Courier-Journal: Jack Conway says hospital merger needs state approvals

July 27, 2011

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011307270079

The controversial merger of three Kentucky hospital systems, including two in Louisville, can’t go forward without the consent of Gov. Steve Beshear and the state Finance and Administration Cabinet, state Attorney General Jack Conway said Wednesday.

“From a legal perspective, this merger cannot be finalized unless they approve,” Conway said in a Wednesday morning interview, adding that he will inform the Federal Trade Commission of his conclusion.

A few hours later, Beshear issued a statement saying that before giving those approvals, “additional discussion and transparency will be needed to provide full disclosure on how the public mission of University Hospital will be honored.”

The governor called for “a series of conversations” with leaders involved in the merger, which would unite University Hospital with Jewish and St. Mary’s HealthCare and Lexington-based St. Joseph Health System, owned by Catholic Health Initiatives of Denver.

The first step, he said, will be to meet with those leaders and Conway, Mayor Greg Fischer, Auditor Crit Luallen and other top state officials.

“We will take whatever time is necessary to resolve these issues,” Beshear said.

The proposed merger has stirred controversy in Louisville, with many residents concerned about how reproductive and end-of-life care will be handled. University Hospital has agreed to abide by Catholic health directives, meaning certain services, such as sterilizations, would no longer be allowed to be performed in the hospital.

Residents have also expressed concerns about end-of-life care; Catholic directives say living wills will be honored unless they conflict with Catholic teaching.

Representatives of the merging hospitals contend that no services will be lost, that living wills are almost always honored after secular-religious mergers, and that they are working hard to find a way indigent women can have tubal ligations right after C-sections.

But those assurances have failed to sway some groups.

On Wednesday, the Rev. Gradye Parsons, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), issued a statement expressing concern about the merger’s impact on University Hospital, saying it “would shift control of this publicly funded, teaching hospital away from Jefferson County and Kentucky citizens and to an out-of-state health care conglomerate.”