Byline: John C. Ensslin And Javier Erik Olvera, Rocky Mountain News
AURORA -- University of Colorado Hospital officials on Tuesday all but abandoned a plan to share a building with a new Veterans Affairs hospital, a development one Colorado congressman called 'a tragedy.'
'We've moved on,' CU hospital president and CEO Dennis Brimhall said after meeting with VA general counsel Tim McClain.
That jeopardizes a $400 million plan to replace the VA's 53-year-old hospital in Denver with one that would combine resources with the CU hospital on the grounds of the former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center.
The partnership ground to a halt last month, when VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi said the VA would need about 38 acres for a 1.4 million-square-foot hospital, not the 12.5 buildable acres available at the CU site.
Principi has said shared space was never an option and that the VA wanted a free-standing hospital from the start, something CU officials strongly dispute.
Rep. Bob Beauprez, who helped guide the legislation funding a new VA hospital at Fitzsimons, blasted top VA administrators Tuesday.
'I think that's a tragedy,' Beauprez said of decisions by Principi and Lawrence Biro, director of the VA's Rocky Mountain Health Care Network, to reject the CU site.
'For him (Principi) to suggest that they never talked about a shared facility is a blatant lie,' Beauprez said.
Beauprez also accused Biro and Principi of misjudging the willingness of Congress to fund a free-standing VA hospital.
'Biro decides to bail out off a cliff, apparently thinking all he has to do is ask for more and more will be given without realizing that he has no place to land,' Beauprez said.
'This is a tragic case of a bureaucrat gone mad,' he added.
Biro declined to comment.
Principi, who could not be reached, has said he is hopeful that a site can be found for a free-standing VA hospital elsewhere on the Fitzsimons campus, separate from the CU complex.
McClain on Tuesday met with members of the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority to explore that possibility.
Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer, chairman of the authority's board, discussed several options with McClain, but declined to describe them in detail, saying only that he hopes to resolve the issue soon.
'It's a little early to talk about specifics,' Tauer said. 'You have to start somewhere, and that's what we did today.'
McClain then met with Brimhall, who considers the VA attorney an old friend.
'We had a good conversation,' Brimhall said. 'It was kind of an exploration, finding out where everybody was. We re-affirmed to them that we don't have the land that they were looking for.'
About four years ago, VA officials began exploring moving their problem-plagued hospital in Denver to the sprawling East Colfax Avenue health-care campus.
Terry Batliner, former director of the VA's Rocky Mountain Health Care Network, took part in the early discussions and called the original plans 'a merger' between the VA and CU hospital.
Batliner said Tuesday the plans were based on a one-building concept, with the VA having its own
signage, its own entrance and its own inpatient beds, but sharing almost every other medical service with the CU hospital.
'The idea was to have one facility and a plan that would allow both groups to benefit,' said the Highlands Ranch resident. 'A free-standing building was never discussed.'
The plan was on course until last year when national leaders with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans raised concerns about 'losing the identity' of the VA hospital system, Batliner said.
He believes they put pressure on Principi to create a free-standing facility so the line between the VA hospital and CU hospital wasn't blurred.
'The fact of the matter is that (Principi) buckled to put a new (hospital) model in place,' said Batliner. 'Veteran leaders said they didn't want to lose their identity.'
Brimhall said CU will go back to its original master plan for the Fitzsimons site, as formulated in 1995, that did not call for a VA hospital.
'Quite honestly, it doesn't have that much impact on us,' Brimhall said. 'Our project is moving ahead. We're building like crazy and we're years ahead of schedule.'
Beauprez said he is hopeful that something can be worked out after former Republican National Committee chairman Jim Nicholson, of Colorado, is confirmed as Principi's replacement.
Beauprez, a former state GOP chairman, said he discussed the matter with Nicholson, who is still in Rome serving as the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. His Senate confirmation hearing is pending.
'I'm a big fan of Jim and his administrative skills,' Beauprez said. 'I expect we'll find a solution. It remains to be seen if it's as good a solution as that (shared building). But that doesn't matter now. That's gone.'
