Sale of Not-For-Profit Hospital System Would Affect Access to Care for the Poor, Kansas University Medical Center Official Says

The proposed $1.13 billion sale of not-for-profit health system Health Midwest to for-profit hospital system HCA could "jeopardize" care for the poor, Irene Cumming, president and CEO of Kansas University Medical Center, wrote in a letter to new Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline (R), the Kansas City Star reports. Cumming questioned HCA's commitment to fund charity care equal to charity care Health Midwest funded for the 12-month period before the closing the deal, saying that the agreement does not take into account medical inflation. In fiscal year 2002, the KU Medical Center provided more than $39 million in uncompensated care, the Star reports. The sale of Health Midwest, the largest health system in the Kansas City area, would result in the creation of a $700 million to $800 million foundation, the Star reports. But Cumming said that non-compete clauses in the deal would prevent the foundation from providing grants to health care organizations that are considered competitors of Health Midwest facilities. Cumming wrote that there are not "adequate consequences should HCA fail to meet" its commitment to providing care for the indigent. "In spite of the public statements by both Health Midwest and HCA regarding the commitment to continuance of care to the communities served by Health Midwest, the (sale-related) documents raise serious questions that the public will receive full value from this transaction," Cummings wrote. But HCA spokesperson Jeff Prescott said, "Anybody who thinks that our commitments to the Kansas City community are not genuine hasn't been paying attention. We've made major commitments. We stand by them, and we stand by our track record in other communities in the country" (Karash, Kansas City Star, 1/15).