The head of University Medical Center of El Paso recently received a pay raise and bonus following a positive annual performance review.
The hospital district’s seven-member board unanimously approved the new compensation for UMC president and CEO Jacob Cintron after a closed-door discussion at the end of February.
Documents the hospital provided to El Paso Matters show Cintron now makes a salary of $878,000, a 7% pay raise. The board also approved a $178,327 bonus for Cintron.
The hospital hired Cintron, the former CEO of Del Sol Medical Center, as its top executive in 2016, starting with a base salary of $480,000.
Henry Gallardo, board chairman for the El Paso County Hospital District, emailed a statement to El Paso Matters through UMC spokesperson Ryan Mielke.
“There are many reasons why Jacob’s performance as a CEO is revered locally and nationally,” Gallardo wrote. “Of particular note, our Hospital District’s revenue has doubled during Jacob’s tenure, while keeping property taxes at comparable rates to what they were in 2019. That remarkable, tremendous growth requires a specific skillset that is extremely difficult to find.”
Gallardo did not elaborate on improvements the board would like to see at the hospital.
The El Paso County Hospital District consists of UMC, El Paso Children’s Hospital, primary care clinics, district-owned health insurance agency and philanthropic foundation.
UMC is the only nonprofit medical center in El Paso and functions as a teaching hospital for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. More than half of UMC’s patient population is insured through Medicaid, uninsured or under-insured, according to the hospital’s website.
Last year the El Paso County Commissioners Court approved the hospital district’s tax rate and $1.4 billion budget. The average El Paso homeowner now pays $442 in annual taxes to the hospital district – or about $38 more than the previous year.
About half of the operating budget covers salary and wages, employee benefits, supplies and pharmaceuticals. The expenditures included merit raises and a minimum wage increase from $14 to $15 per hour for UMC employees, as well as a build-out of the eighth floor at El Paso Children’s Hospital to accommodate additional beds.
