It has been for four full months since the the Franklin Circuit Court Order requiring mediation of the dispute between Norton Healthcare and the University of Louisville over UofL’s demand for physical control of Children’s Hospital. Since then, no information has been made available to the public about the status of the mediation, or for that matter, even whether or not a mediator had been selected!
In the meantime, I am unaware of any thaw in the overall frigid relationship between the two institutions. In fact, with Kosair Charities (UofL’s new best-friend-forever) piling on to Norton with a lawsuit of its own over Children’s Hospital, things have gotten even more complicated and ugly. Commercial rivalry between the two downtown hospital organizations– Norton and KentuckyOne Health– continues unabated and is likely to get worse. KentuckyOne (which manages UofL’s hospital operations including its cardiac services and Neo-natal ICU) cannot be happy with the recent departure of some of its top interventional cardiologists to Norton. The pot is still being stirred. Whether or not KentuckyOne is currently a formal participant in the Children’s Hospital matter, it also has an immense stake in the outcome.
In his order of Feb 14, Judge Wingate suspended all deadlines for Norton’s underlying request for declaratory relief pending the results of mediation. In its last public filing in Franklin Circuit Court on February 3, Norton requested up to 30 days to identify a mediator and at least another 90 days to complete the mediation process.
I called Franklin Circuit Court today to see what public information was available. In fact, the last document on file for the case (13-CI-1060) is that of February 20 related to the court-ordered mediation. There is not even a formal notice that a mediator had been appointed or approved. There have been no further hearings and none are scheduled for the future.
In my opinion, now is as good a time as any for some sort of public accountability from the parties. Are they in fact engaged? Are they making progress and needing of more time, or has the process broken down as some have feared? Did it ever really have a chance?
Peter Hasselbacher, MD
President, KHPI
Emeritus Professor of Medicine, UofL
June 11, 2014
Does Ky-One manage the Neo-Natal ICU at U.of L. Hospital? It clearly appears to be under the day-to-day management of the 3rd floor mother and baby unit Center for Women and Infants. Much money for renovations is being poured into the 3rd floor…whose money?
Two Hospitals or One?
Great question! When I last reported on the statewide maneuvering for neonatal ICU bed numbers and levels of care, KentuckyOne was involved in the the Certificate of Need application from University Hospital for NICU changes. It can hardly claim a hands-off position.
What is in my opinion the illusion of having two separate hospitals under one roof at University hospital– one for women’s care and other prohibited services and another for everything else– is a medically indefensible scheme designed solely to allow the Roman Catholic managers of the hospital to save face and claim that they are adhering in a fundamentalist way to the tenets of the Ethical and Religious Directives of their particular brand of religion while participating nonetheless in the profitable hospital business. Anyone who has read this column over the past two years is aware of my considerable criticism of the University of Louisville and our enabling state and local governments for allowing this major breech of separation of church and state to distort the academic and clinical activities of our state medical school and public hospital.
The Hospital has a single provider number for its dealings with federal healthcare programs. It must aggregate all of its clinical activities in its reports to state federal government or to quality and safety organizations regardless of on what floor or in which operating rooms the services are performed.
I would love to see some public accounting on just how separate these two entities– University Medical Center, Inc, and KentuckyOne Health– really are. Since UMC has been declared a public entity, this should not be so difficult, but the hospital(s) still claim to be private entities without such disclosure obligations. In my opinion, this artificial separation of the hospital into two “separate” entities has led to consequences that if not medically absurd or unnecessary, may not even be proper. For example, I have asked which entity is receiving the state and local QCCT funding for indigent care. KentuckyOne has not signed the appropriate contracts with the state. Presumably UMC is the only hospital entity party to the agreement. Is KentuckyOne’s half of the hospital receiving any benefit of those funds? If not, why not?
I request here the opportunity to interview representatives of UMC and KentuckyOne to describe for us all how they have structured the organization of our hospital. I would ask questions such as: are your employees strictly separated into two parts? Are there two employee staffs working side-by-side under the same roof with different employee benefits? Are some still eligible for same-sex partner and uncensored contraceptive benefits and some not? Were UMC employees vulnerable to the same degree in the layoffs of last March as KentuckyOne employees were? Did both entities follow Kentucky’s labor laws in these layoffs and subsequent hirings as agreed to in the QCCT contracts? May I see the budgets and books for both institutions? Please help me understand and believe that the division of the hospital into two entities is more than just for show, and that it benefits rather than impedes patient care and medical education. I do not think you can. Prove me wrong– please!
Peter Hasselbacher
I heard today that UL has left the mediation prior to its completion.
Enough people told me that too such that I believe it. UofL has chosen not to confirm or comment. It appears that at the last gasp, UofL got virtually everything they wanted. I wonder if they really want an agreement?