Members of Save Jennie Stuart appeared at Tuesday’s Hopkinsville Rotary Club meeting to share why they are urging Jennie Stuart Medical Center’s Board of Trustees to halt the hospital’s merger with Deaconess Health.
In late September, officials from Jennie Stuart announced that they signed a non-binding letter of intent to merge with Deaconess, a nonprofit healthcare system headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.
Right now, both healthcare systems are reportedly evaluating each other to establish the details for a merger agreement that is set to be completed by the end of 2024. In response to the merger, an organization, Save Jennie Stuart, was formed and consists of former Jennie Stuart board members, hospital staff, business owners and former elected officials.
At the Rotary Club’s meeting organization members, Theresa Nichol and Darrell Gustafson spotlighted their mission and why the merger is occurring. Nichol says the merger was announced after Jennie Stuart started struggling with software issues.
Beyond the software issues, Nichol says Jennie Stuart is in good financial health and could partner with a larger hospital to handle software issues instead of merging because once the hospital merges it can’t simply be reversed.
Gustafson says the software issues resulted in a revenue halt. Jennie Stuart then reportedly issued a request for a new software partner. Gustafson says Jennie Stuart attempted to form partnerships with healthcare systems that used the software, Epic Systems, because alone the hospital did not generate enough revenue to independently obtain the system.
Over time, Gustafson says Jennie Stuart left behind the partnership idea and just decided to merge.
Following the merger, Gustafson says Jennie Stuart’s assets and liabilities will be transferred to Deaconess; the hospital’s capital commitments will be kept in some form and charitable efforts will decrease.
Gustafson says the Jennie Stuart Health Foundation is set to remain separate from the hospital.
Following the merger, Gustafson says Deaconess could later be acquired by a for-profit entity, and by performing this merger now, the future of healthcare in the community is being put into jeopardy.
Local Attorney and District Three Senator Elect, Craig Richardson is also working with Save Jennie Stuart and he says the merger is happening too quickly and will result in increased healthcare prices and job cuts.
Richardson, says Baptist Health Deaconess in Madisonville is close to Jennie Stuart and that proximity could lead to Deaconess allocating resources to both institutions differently.
Save Jennie Stuart’s goal is for the hospital’s board members to pause the merger to evaluate other options to resolve the software issues. In a letter to the City of Hopkinsville, Jennie Stuart Board Chair Leslie Carroll says they plan to host an open meeting concerning the merger but a meeting date has not been announced.  Â