Dennis Murphy, president and CEO of Indianapolis-based IU Health, has penned a letter to two dozen other health system chiefs, asking them to pool money for a certain gubernatorial candidate.
In the letter — obtained by the Indiana Capital Chronicle and published March 6 — Mr. Murphy urged his peers to donate specific amounts to Brad Chambers, a Republican candidate for Indiana governor.
"I am asking that each of our large systems raise $2000 from each of their top 25 leaders in their executive teams ($50,000) and each of our freestanding institutions to raise $2000 from the top 5 leaders on their teams ($10,000)," Mr. Murphy wrote. "I hope that some organizations will do significantly more."
Mr. Murphy alleged that legislative leaders — including Mr. Chambers' Republican opponents, Mike Braun and Eric Doden — do not recognize hospitals and health systems for their community contributions.
"Rather, our legislative leaders see us only as a cost to be managed, entities who do not fulfill their not-for-profit status, or the sole reason for the poor health outcomes that exist in our state," he wrote. "I have personally struggled as being characterized in any of these ways because of the true good that occurs in each and every one of your organizations every day."
Mr. Murphy said that Mr. Chambers is the only candidate who has been willing to meet with hospital and health system leaders and "truly talk openly about the issues facing our state and industry." He expressed concerns that other candidates would harm healthcare and its individual institutions.
He finished with a timeline, asking leaders to fund the campaign in the next seven to 10 days, and offered his personal cellphone number for questions.
Mr. Murphy does not have a history of political donations on the Secretary of State's campaign finance portal — nor do most of the health system CEOs he sent the letter to, according to the Chronicle. He asked them to make donations via Win Red, a Republican fundraising platform, or through the Indiana Innovation Council, a public policy committee "promoting [Mr. Chambers'] economic agenda."
Mr. Braun's campaign website calls the high cost of healthcare in Indiana "a glaring weakness" and demands more price transparency; Mr. Doden's campaign does the same. However, Mr. Chambers' campaign has not released details on his health policy initiatives, according to the Chronicle.
Mr. Braun addressed Mr. Murphy's support for his opponent in a statement.
"[Mr. Murphy] is donating to my opponents and asking his friends in Big Healthcare to join him because he knows nobody will work harder to lower their prices than I will," Mr. Braun wrote. "Hoosiers are tired of paying some of the highest prices in the country and the CEO of the state's largest hospital system has made it clear he's for the status quo. I am not."
Mr. Doden also shared a statement in response to Mr. Murphy:
"Dennis Murphy made $4 million last year as the head of a hospital that makes billions of dollars off Hoosiers but pays no state taxes. He's right, Hoosiers looking to maintain special tax status for hospitals and the status quo in health care should vote for one of the career politicians running," his campaign said. "As Governor, Eric Doden will implement a plan to ensure hospitals provide full transparency in pricing and their use of taxpayer funding, and incentivize non-profit hospitals to invest a portion of their billions in profits — which are currently on Wall Street — back into the Main Streets of the communities they serve."
Mr. Chambers responded to the newspaper that although increased competition and price transparency are important, "there is more we can do." If elected, he promised to bring all stakeholders to the table and take a "holistic approach" to improving access and affordability.
The state's Republican primary is May 7.