{"id":3106,"date":"2014-06-11T15:00:29","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T19:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/blog\/?p=3106"},"modified":"2014-06-11T15:20:16","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T19:20:16","slug":"struggle-for-takeover-of-louisvilles-childrens-hospital-time-for-an-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/blog\/struggle-for-takeover-of-louisvilles-childrens-hospital-time-for-an-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Struggle for Takeover of Louisville\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital: Time for an Update?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been for four full months since the the Franklin Circuit Court Order requiring mediation<\/a> of the dispute<\/a> between Norton Healthcare and the University of Louisville over UofL\u2019s 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!<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I am unaware of any thaw in the overall frigid relationship between the two institutions. In fact, with Kosair Charities (UofL\u2019s new best-friend-forever) piling on to Norton with a lawsuit of its own<\/a> over Children\u2019s Hospital, things have gotten even more complicated and ugly. Commercial rivalry between the two downtown hospital organizations\u2013 Norton and KentuckyOne Health\u2013 continues unabated and is likely to get worse. KentuckyOne (which manages UofL\u2019s 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\u2019s Hospital matter, it also has an immense stake in the outcome.<\/p>\n

In his order of Feb 14<\/a>, Judge Wingate suspended all deadlines for Norton\u2019s underlying request for declaratory relief pending the results of mediation. In its last public filing in Franklin Circuit Court on February 3, Norton requested<\/a> up to 30 days to identify a mediator and at least another 90 days to complete the mediation process.<\/p>\n

I called Franklin Circuit Court today to see what public information was available. In fact, the last document on file<\/a> for the case (13-CI-1060) is that of\u00a0February 20 related to the court-ordered mediation. There is\u00a0not 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.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Peter Hasselbacher, MD
\nPresident, KHPI
\nEmeritus Professor of Medicine, UofL
\nJune 11, 2014<\/p>\n

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