{"id":1398,"date":"2012-06-19T07:48:02","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T11:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/blog\/?p=1398"},"modified":"2012-06-24T14:20:37","modified_gmt":"2012-06-24T18:20:37","slug":"open-letter-to-louisville-metro-councilabout-indigent-care-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/blog\/open-letter-to-louisville-metro-councilabout-indigent-care-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to Louisville Metro Council About Indigent Care Funding."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Louisville<\/span>
\nFull Disclosure needed to keep UofLHonest.<\/h1>\n

Here is a letter I sent to all our Metro Council Members in Louisville. \u00a0I attached a copy of the article<\/a> immediately before this one. The University’s mystery cuts and impact on the hospital are meaningless unless their context in the entire Hospital and University budgets are known.<\/span><\/h1>\n

________________________________________<\/p>\n

Dear Metro Council Member.<\/p>\n

The remainder of June holds some major decisions for health care, both nationally and here in Louisville. A decision about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be released soon. It will have important implications in Louisville. Locally, you will have to make some decisions important to medical care for the disadvantaged, and the University of Louisville has promised to make an announcement about a new partner for its “private” University Hospital and for its other academic activities. UofL has kept firm control over its message these past months. Underlying it all is a push to obtain more money for its commercial research operation and other academic activities, and attempting to portray a merger of its choice as the only solution. Its most recent move was an announcement that it will cut money it donates from its hospital budget that UofL said was targeted to education without mentioning its longstanding research contributions. I have commented on this process in the most recent entry to the Policy Blog of the Institute. I include that article here along with some recommendations for your consideration. The University of Louisville has run its own hospital into the ground and now expects a public bailout as a matter of right. Sounds familiar.<\/p>\n

The University of Louisville needs some tough love right now, not more enabling support, no matter how well intended. By all means protect our disadvantaged, but they deserve better than the two-tier. low quality, and segregated system we have now. I have written extensively about this over the past months. Those articles and recommendations are available to you through the QCCT link on the Institute website below. I am also willing to speak to any of you personally abut the matter.<\/p>\n

Respectfully,<\/p>\n

Peter Hasselbacher, MD
\nPresident, Kentucky Health Policy Institute.
\nEmeritus Professor of Medicine, UofL<\/p>\n

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