Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Ky., has filed a lawsuit against the University of Louisville in an ongoing dispute revolving around Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville.
Currently, Norton manages Kosair Children's Hospital, which is staffed primarily with physicians from the University of Louisville's department of pediatrics and sits on leased, state-owned land. Last month, Norton Healthcare signed a collaboration agreement with UK Healthcare in Lexington, which prompted the University of Louisville to issue a letter to Norton claiming the organization to be in violation of lease terms that require a beneficial relationship between the University of Louisville and the lessee, according to a Business First report.
"Norton has broken an agreement with us," David Dunn, executive vice president for health affairs at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, said in a videotaped statement. "The land lease specifically says they get to build this hospital as a state asset for the primary benefit of the University of Louisville and its department of pediatrics. They cannot enter into an agreement with another entity to our detriment."
In an editorial written for the Courier-Journal, the chairman of the University of Louisville's department of pediatrics, Gerard Rabalais, MD, also references struggling negotiations between the university and Norton over physician payment, and says the University of Louisville has spent millions on physicians' salaries without reimbursement from Norton. "Because of Norton's refusal to reimburse us, the U of L pediatrics department is now in an extremely vulnerable position due to this massive, unreimbursed expenditure. Norton has offered to pay a fraction of this but it is not enough to cover the significant expenses U of L has incurred," he wrote.
According to Norton, the letter is the beginning of an attempt to evict Norton from the children's hospital and seize the facility for its own use. The lawsuit aims to prove the university's claims of contract breach are legally unfounded.
"We highly value the relationship between Kosair Children's Hospital and U of L," said Stephen A. Williams, CEO of Norton, in a news release. "We have no intention to diminish it, and we will continue to meet our obligations to U of L. But in the rapidly changing world of healthcare, Kentucky's two children's hospitals need to find ways to further work together. Now is not the time for U of L to begin a monopoly on providing all physician services at Kosair Children's Hospital, to demand $24 million we don't owe, or if we don't agree, to try to have us evicted from the children's hospital we own. Norton Healthcare respects the many private practice pediatric physicians who have contributed to the success of the children's hospital and continue to do so, as we appreciate the U of L physicians. U of L has never had exclusivity at the hospital and exclusivity is not what's best for the Commonwealth's children."
More Articles on Hospital Lawsuits:
California Insurance Exchange Sued for Including Kaiser Permanente
Advocate Data Breach Update: Class Action Lawsuit Filed
Hurley Medical Center Settles Family and Medical Leave Act Lawsuit