By Matthew Keck —

With less than two weeks from being finalized, the University of Louisville has more details about their KentuckyOne Health purchase.

At a ULAA board meeting on Oct. 18, President Neeli Bendapudi presented financial details about U of L’s loan situation for this deal. These details included the criteria that U of L must meet in order for 50 percent of their $50 million loan to be forgiven.

U of L must maintain 5,880 full-time Kentucky resident jobs or provide healthcare in the west end of Louisville or other agreed-upon rural communities. Board member James Rogers had reservations about what providing healthcare to these areas meant exactly.

Bendapudi said that making it easier for these areas to access healthcare would be one way that U of L could fulfill this obligation.

In addition to this Bendapudi discussed Jewish Hospital’s immediate eligibility for $33 million of enhanced Medicaid reimbursement. Jewish Hospital is only able to receive this benefit as part of the U of L academic enterprise; non-academic owners cannot receive this drawdown.

During her address Bendapudi focused on U of L’s ability to turn things around with failing businesses. She highlighted the fact that U of L’s hospitals went from negative $72 million in the 2018 fiscal year to positive $23 in the 2019 fiscal year.

Benefits of this deal for the state include saving Jewish Hospital’s heart, kidney, lung, pancreas and liver transplant programs. It also helps avoid transferring about 600 patients a month that would need immediate hospitalization.

Other details included the impact that this deal will have on the local economy. The loss of 1,900 jobs would have occurred with 82 percent of those employees at Jewish being Kentucky residents, and more than $100 million Kentucky wages and taxes would have been lost annually.

The university also had their medical students in mind with this deal. They are avoiding the relocation of 15 to 20 medical students per month and 60 residents. U of L’s status as a R1 research institute would have been jeopardized without this deal.

This deal is set to close on Nov. 1 with five hospitals coming under the U of L Hospital name.

Photo by Matthew Keck // The Louisville Cardinal