- Target:
- CommonSpirit Health and Attorney General Andrew Beshear
- Region:
- United States of America
Jewish Hospital and St. Mary's Healthcare (JHSMH) is essential to the Louisville region. JHSMH cares for some of the sickest patients in our community, providing advanced medical procedures that are not available at other area facilities. JHSMH also serves a disproportionally larger share of patients in our community who are at higher risk of poor health, or who have historically had difficulty accessing healthcare.
Unfortunately, CommonSpirit Health (formerly known as CHI), the large hospital system which operates JHSMH, has announced that it is unable to provide the resources needed to maintain the critical services provided by JHSMH. CommonSpirit Health has been seeking for over two years to sell its Louisville facilities, following which it plans to depart the Louisville region with the proceeds of the sale. This prolonged uncertainty regarding Jewish Hospital's future threatens the viability of many advanced services, and contributed to the recent suspension of the heart transplant program.
Jewish Hospital and St. Mary's Healthcare is a tax-exempt charity, built with donations from generations of Louisville-area citizens, CommonSpirit Health has a legal obligation to operate these facilities for the benefit of the public. If it is unable to honor this obligation, and cannot find another charitable sponsor, then control of the hospitals should be returned to the Louisville community.
CommonSpirit Health has been presented with a plan that would preserve the vital services at JHSMH, maintain the hospitals as nonprofit, and continue the important relationship with the University of Louisville. However, CommonSpirit Health has instead sought to sell these charitable assets to a for-profit corporation. Such a sale would not be in the public's best interest.
CommonSpirit Health has a fiduciary obligation to do what's best for the Louisville region. Attorney General Andy Beshear has the authority to enforce this obligation. Please sign this petition to preserve our community's access to the critical services provided by Jewish Hospital and St. Mary's Healthcare.
We, the undersigned, call upon CommonSpirit Health to act in the best interest of the Louisville community by expeditiously transferring control of JHSMH to new governance that will maintain JHSMH's charitable mission, preserve the organ transplant programs and other advanced medical services, and strengthen JHSMH's relationship with the University of Louisville.
We furthermore call upon Attorney General Beshear to enforce CommonSpirit Health's fiduciary obligations to the Louisville community and to the donors who contributed the funds to create JHSMH, by declining to permit the conversion of these hospitals from charitable institutions to for-profit facilities.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it