Clarke Heidrick is former chairman of Travis County’s health care district, Central Health, and in 2004 led the successful initiative to create the district. He will be honored in April at the Seventh Annual University Medical Center Brackenridge luncheon for his long-standing commitment to providing Austin with quality medical services.
Heidrick began practicing law in 1977 and currently works as an attorney at Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody where he also serves as chairman of the firm’s board of directors. Heidrick holds, or has held, leadership positions in several local organizations, including the Shivers Cancer Foundation, Rebekah Baines Johnson Center and the United Way Capital Area organization. He began his term as chairman of the Austin Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 1.
What should Central Health do to reach a balance between its growth and budget?
What Central Health probably needs to do is increase its tax rate modestly [over the next two to three years]. It will need to carefully manage its expenses and probably cut some expenses. One of the big projects Central Health has pursued is the construction of a new clinic on Braker Lane, which had some controversy. When we open a clinic like that, we’re going to pull some patients from other clinics, and, at some point, we need to close some clinics that are not as efficient. You have to close things, and government organizations aren’t as good as they might be at closing things.
You mentioned the Braker Lane clinic. Do you think that was the right location?
I think the long-term answer is yes. I think we got the right results. It was an experiment we learned a lot from, since it was the first new facility that Central Health built. I don’t think in hindsight that we did as much work with the neighborhood up front to anticipate a lot of issues that popped up … You learn as you go.
Do you support establishing a medical school in Austin? What challenges do you feel that initiative will present?
I definitely support it, and I think challenges abound … As usual, what comes down to every major project is dollars. To get it done, we’re going to have to raise some money for endowment, and we’ll have to find a source for operating dollars. What I keep hearing from UT is they are very confident that the endowment and the capital dollars can be found, but the operating dollars will be hard to come by. That’s where Central Health would come in to raise its tax rate and conceivably have some money to invest in the project.
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