Hopkinsville’s Jennie Stuart Medical Center-Deaconess Health lawsuit settled

Kentucky Health News

“A new settlement agreement between Jennie Stuart Medical Center’s governing board and the group Save Jennie Stuart has cleared the hospital board to approve Jennie Stuart’s acquisition by Evansville, Indiana-based Deaconess Health,” Jennifer P. Brown reports for Hoptown Chronicle.

Save Jennie Stuart announced the new settlement agreement on March 3, writes Brown.

Save Jennie Stuart states in a press release that the lawsuit it filed to obtain a pause in the sale of the hospital resulted in a Dec. 20 mediation, which led to an effort to obtain “more favorable terms for the sale” of Jennie Stuart.

“As a result of the SJS efforts, Deaconess did make an offer of a deal on more favorable terms to the community,” the release states. “That proposal was supported by the Jennie Stuart Board and was agreed to by SJS on Feb. 26.”

In conclusion, the group’s release said, “Although the members of SJS continue to oppose the takeover and mourn the loss of Jennie Stuart’s assets to an Evansville-based health care conglomerate, they hope the takeover will result in better medical care for the community and a continuation of the charitable contributions made by Jennie Stuart to the community over the years.”

A Jennie Stuart Health news release dated March 4 states, “Deaconess has committed to invest at least $95 million in Jennie Stuart and, additionally, has pledged to fully fund JSH’s transition to Deaconess’s EHR platform, which would cost JSH an estimated $40-60 million as a standalone entity.”

“This milestone will ensure Jennie Stuart can deliver even better health care for our communities for our next 100 years,” Eric Lee, Jennie Stuart president and CEO, said in the release.

The transaction is expected to close by Aug. 1, according to the release.