Jerry Johnson, an ex-state Democratic Party chairman, will be paid $200,000 this year to advise the president of Kentucky's University of Louisville on the pending hospital merger, according to a Courier-Journal report.
In January, the University of Louisville Foundation hired Mr. Johnson, a former hospital administrator, under a one-year contract. He will aid U of L President James Ramsey on financial and clinical issues involved in the three-way merger between Louisville's University Hospital and Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare with Lexington-based St. Joseph Health System. The latter two are both subsidiaries of Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives.
The no-bid contract said the services Mr. Johnson is providing were unavailable within the university's staff, according to the report. Critics say the contract is too costly, and the money takes away from "supplementing salaries of world-class research and academic talent," according to the report. Others say it raises questions about U of L's transparency.
Read the Courier-Journal report on Jerry Johnson and the University of Louisville.
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In January, the University of Louisville Foundation hired Mr. Johnson, a former hospital administrator, under a one-year contract. He will aid U of L President James Ramsey on financial and clinical issues involved in the three-way merger between Louisville's University Hospital and Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare with Lexington-based St. Joseph Health System. The latter two are both subsidiaries of Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives.
The no-bid contract said the services Mr. Johnson is providing were unavailable within the university's staff, according to the report. Critics say the contract is too costly, and the money takes away from "supplementing salaries of world-class research and academic talent," according to the report. Others say it raises questions about U of L's transparency.
Read the Courier-Journal report on Jerry Johnson and the University of Louisville.
Related Articles on Hospital Mergers in Kentucky:
Kentucky Governor: University Hospital Needs to Keep Public Mission in Catholic MergerArchbishop Calls for Participants in Kentucky Merger to Follow Catholic Rules
Louisville Hospital System Merger Lays Out Potential Board of Trustees