Category: Hospital Mergers
Changes in Reproductive and Women’s Healthcare in Louisville.
Implications for possible future UofL Hospital partnership.
The University of Louisville offered a target date of the end of June to announce their newest life-partner-intended for clinical and academic activities. Despite my musings in the last post, most observers believe the University will try to follow through on its original plans to merge with, or be acquired by some combination of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) or KentuckyOne Health (KOH). If anyone wishes to wager on a different outcome below, I am willing to bet a martini in the favorite Louisville bar of the correct predictor. My bet is on CHI/KOH. [So far, no one has been willing to bet against me!]
Background.
Any new proposal from the former would-be partners, or any other for that matter, will have to grapple with a number of existing thorny issues and probably some new ones. It will be interesting and probably entertaining to see how it all plays out. It would be less entertaining to write about if the outcome was not so determinative of the style and quality of medical care that will be offered on the public’s behalf to the disadvantaged of Louisville. This article will deal with the issue of how a potential new partnership with CHI/KOH might effect the way end-of-life, reproductive health, or woman’s healthcare would be delivered under UofL auspices. As the best available indicator, I base this discussion on how Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s (JHSM) and their associated medical practices provide these medical services following the creation of KentuckyOne Health. Recall that the University of Louisville fully expected to be a part of this new entity, and even while trying to downplay (some would say obscure) the changes in medical practice it was willing to make, it was clear that the University and its Hospital were prepared to follow religious doctrines of the Catholic Church in exchange for money for University programs. It was a “business decision.” Although this article deals mostly with reproductive and women’s heath, and with end-of-life care, the Religious and Ethical Directives of the Catholic Church (ERDs) cover much more ground than that. Continue reading “Changes in Reproductive and Women’s Healthcare in Louisville.”
One Last Non-Update on UofL Medical Merger.
Are we there yet?
I have to give the University of Louisville credit for their incredible skill in keeping all the rest of us in the dark regarding their ongoing plans to secure outside help in rescuing the hospital it has starved over the years. Of course, understated sub-agendas of this initiative have always been to obtain additional money for the University’s commercial research initiative and to keep Jewish Hospital afloat. It just sounds better if you claim you are doing it all to help the poor. If the University is still on its schedule for an announcement for later June, the veil may soon be rising.
This success has come about through a combination of non-disclosure agreements, internal loyalty, and probably even the same employee fear and perceived threats reported to me during last year’s go-around. Who knows, perhaps the University even cleverly used some dis-information to confuse the rest of us. The best measure of the University’s success in keeping its negotiations under cover is that several of my contacts (all claiming reliable sources) are quite sure they know who the putative partner will be, but that several different names are still being put forward. Perhaps wishful thinking underlies the whole matter. Here is a brief summary of the known or possible players. Continue reading “One Last Non-Update on UofL Medical Merger.”
Final Meeting of UofL Ad Hoc Hospital Operations Review Committee
Presentation to Hospital Employees and the Public
Because the presentation was essentially identical to that of May 9th, I refer you to my discussion of that meeting which is still on point, and to my final comments in that article which I still hold true.
This final presentation was held in the auditorium of the hospital. The room was appropriately well filled with hospital employees. These were the people who worked with and were interviewed by the consultants, Dixon Hughes Goodman. (DHG). I can’t say there were many members of the general public, if at all. I recognized two other members of the press. A handout with most the slides used is available on the KHPI website (4.8 MB). Some slides, including financial trend information, were used in the presentation but not included in the handout and are available here. An earlier slide comparing University Hospital market share with that of other Louisville hospitals was not presented at all. Continue reading “Final Meeting of UofL Ad Hoc Hospital Operations Review Committee”