http://www.virginislandsdailynews.co...ome?id=3888352

Group says it met $15M requirement for St. Thomas-St. John medical school
By JOY BLACKBURN
Monday, February 2nd 2004



The chairman of a foundation issued a charter to establish a medical school in the St. Thomas-St. John District said recently that the foundation is "similarly situated" in terms of complying with charter deadlines as a group backing a proposed medical school on St. Croix.

"To the extent that depositing funds with an investment adviser that does business in the territory meets the requirements of the charter, then we have done that as well," said Bruce Tizes, chairman of the Medical Faculty Foundation.

At issue is a requirement that both organizations proposing the schools deposit $15 million in a bank in the territory as proof of financial commitment and resources necessary to develop the schools.

Neither of the organizations deposited money in a bank.

Tizes had $15 million on deposit through Galt Capital, a local investment advisory service, on Nov. 8 when the Medical Faculty Foundation charter went into effect. Tizes is a managing partner with Galt Capital.

The U.S. Virgin Islands College of Medicine - the group issued a charter to establish a medical school on St. Croix - deposited the money with Merrill Lynch, according to a letter from Merrill Lynch dated Oct. 3 and addressed to Gov. Charles Turnbull. Merrill Lynch has an office on St. Croix.

Turnbull in August signed executive orders issuing the charters to the USVI College of Medicine, effective Aug. 8, and the Medical Faculty Foundation, effective Nov. 8.

The orders required both entities to deposit $15 million in a bank in the territory within 60 days of the effective date, along with an additional $10 million within six months of the effective date.

The letter from Merrill Lynch indicates that the USVI College of Medicine had the entire $25 million on deposit with the investment firm.

"The Medical Faculty Foundation has always had money available to it, and if the definition of meeting the charter is having money in a Virgin Islands investment adviser," then the foundation is in a "precisely similar situation" as the USVI College of Medicine, Tizes said.

Previously, Tizes had said the Medical Faculty Foundation had missed its Jan. 8 deadline to deposit money in a bank in the territory. More recently, he said the money was available at the effective date of the charter through the investment firm.

There are problems inherent with depositing $15 million to $25 million in a bank in the territory, Tizes said.

Bank deposits are insured only up to $100,000 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

And Tizes said he thinks it is "ill-advised to put $15 million in a Virgin Islands bank," because the transaction is "a disproportionately large transaction for a financial institution here."

Kevin Rames, the St. Croix attorney representing the USVI College of Medicine, said that Martin Oliner, president of the organization, had been out of the country recently and had not had the opportunity to review recent developments related to the medical school proposals, so he could not comment on the matter.

The executive order issuing the charter says that material default on any terms of the charter are grounds for suspension, termination or revocation of the charter.

It appears that the responsibility for determining whether the charters were violated may fall to another entity - the V.I. Medical School Commission, which was established by an executive order issued in August at the same time that the charters were granted.

Government House chief legal counsel Queen Terry refused to comment on any questions about the proposed medical schools or the V.I. Medical School Commission.

The commission is a nine-member advisory body to be set up within the V.I. Education Department and given oversight authority for the medical schools. According to the executive order, the Education commissioner is to chair the commission. The other voting members are the Health commissioner, the president of the University of the Virgin Islands, the chief executive officers of Schneider and Luis hospitals, the governor's chief of staff, the attorney general and the chairs of the V.I. Board of Medical Examiners and the Board of Nurse Licensure.

Juel Anderson, spokeswoman for the Education Department, said Friday that the commission has not yet met but that Education Commissioner Noreen Michael is in the process of contacting members.

Anderson said Michael plans to have a commission meeting "in the near future" but would not specify a time frame.

A civil lawsuit challenging the executive orders, charging in particular that the governor exceeded his authority by establishing the commission and granting it oversight and funding without legislative authorization or appropriation, is pending.

A citizens group on St. Croix, the Committee for Quality Assurance in the Establishment of Medical Education in St. Croix, initially filed suit in U.S. District Court, but Chief District Judge Raymond Finch dismissed the suit in November because of lack of jurisdiction.

The suit was filed in Territorial Court in December and is pending.

Tizes said Wednesday that he thinks the issues surrounding the money and the charter deadlines are clouding the real issues involved in developing a medical school in the territory.

"It was premature and remains premature to post funds," Tizes said, "when it's not at all clear what the evolution of the medical education system will be in the territory of the Virgin Islands."

The real issue, he said, is determining whether there are sufficient resources here to provide a wide range of quality clinical experiences for medical students in their third year. Medical students in their third and fourth years must complete clinical rotations in medical facilities.

Providing a wide range of quality clinical experiences for these students is one of the key areas that the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting body for schools leading to the M.D. degree in the United States, studies when it considers accreditation.

Physicians, some health care administrators and the citizens group on St. Croix have contended that the territory does not have the resources - in terms of clinical facilities and patients - to support two medical schools.

Tizes said he is working to set up a relationship between the Medical Faculty Foundation and an established medical school. He would not comment on which school.

"From our point of view, the best way to proceed here is a conjoined relationship with an excellent university which currently has a superior medical school," Tizes said.

The USVI College of Medicine is affiliated with Touro University, a for-profit Jewish university, Rames said.

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.co...ome?id=2448205

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html