The principal players in a pending hospital merger say they’ve been as open as they can be with the public about the potentially multi-billion dollar deal.
The consolidation of University of Louisville Hospital, Jewish/St. Mary’s Healthcare and Catholic Health Initiatives will result in a statewide care network and a $320 million cash infusion to the struggling University Medical Center (which includes U of L Hospital and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center) and Jewish/St. Mary’s. It will also lead to changes in certain reproductive care at U of L, the city’s hospital of last resort. The deal has many residents worried about the future of other procedures the Catholic Church frowns upon.
The exact details of which procedures will and will not be allowed and the exact structure of the final merged entity are still being discussed. Documents related to the merger have been kept private, and that’s led to two legal battles. One is a challenge to Attorney General Jack Conway’s ruling that the UMC is a public institution and subject to open records requests. The other is a records request filed by Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell, who has been denied specific documents about the consolidation. [click to continue…]
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