LITTLE ROCK — The Vatican has responded to opposing parties about the proposed sale of Mercy Hospital Hot Springs to a for profit chain, telling them to keep talking to each other.
Tim Johnsen, president of Mercy Hospital Hot Springs, told employees in an e-mail Friday that the Vatican has requested Mercy Health executives try to resolve differences with Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock.
Mercy Health and Taylor, who is leader of the Roman Catholic church in Arkansas, paid visits to Rome to plead their cases, in September and October, respectively.
Taylor said earlier this month that he offered alternatives to the outright sale of the hospital to Capella Healthcare of Franklin, Tenn.
“The most obvious is to continue to operate under church auspices and undertake internal modifications to bring them into more healthy [fiscal] conditions,” he said.
Taylor, who opposes the sale because of concerns that it would erode the hospital’s historical outreach to the poor, did not respond to voice-mail messages Monday about the Vatican’s response.
Mercy Health System, based in Chesterfield, Mo., near St. Louis, issued the following statement over the weekend:
“The Vatican has asked that Mercy engage in further discussions with Bishop Anthony Taylor to address his concerns about ongoing care for the poor, the continuation of the Ethical and Religious Directives and the impact of the transition on co-workers. We have reached out to Bishop Taylor and Capella to arrive at a solution agreeable to all, and remain committed to healthcare that is in the best interests of the community of Hot Springs.”
Capella did not respond to requests Monday for comment.
Mercy Health Chief Executive Officer Lynn Britton has said consolidation of health care is essential in Hot Springs. At one time, the city had three hospitals. Now there are two, and the community can only support one, he said.
The two hospitals are 166-bed National Park Medical Center, which is owned by Capella, and 309-bed Mercy Health, formerly St. Joseph Mercy.
After negotiations in which Mercy Health sought to buy National Park failed, the Catholic hospital chain offered Mercy Hospital for sale.
The proposed sale calls for a five-year ban on elective abortion and reproductive sterilization in the merged hospitals. Taylor has expressed concern about what could happen after five years. Capella says National Park Medical Center has never performed an elective abortion.
Aside from the Vatican, the sale also faces review by the Federal Trade Commission, which scrutinizes such market changes for monopolistic situations that can be detrimental to patients.
Capella and Mercy Health have set up a website, advancinghotspringshealth.com/who-is-mercy-health, to address issues arising from the proposed sale and merger.
Capella owns or operates 13 general acute-care hospitals across seven states. It operates four hospitals in middle Tennessee through a joint venture with Saint Thomas Health, which is part of Ascension Health, a Catholic ministry that is the largest nonprofit health system in the United States, the website states.
Mercy Health is the eighth largest Catholic health-care system in the U.S. It includes 31 hospitals and 200 outpatient clinics, serving more than 3 million people annually, according to the website.
Business, Pages 23 on 11/20/2012