Chatham County Hospital Authority Chairman Frank Rossiter Jr., MD, wrote a letter to leaders of the Savannah, Ga.-based Memorial Health board of directors Dec. 13 urging officials to disclose materials sought by the Savannah Morning News in relation to the health system's failed partnership with Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health in 2016.
Here are five things to know about Dr. Rossiter's letter and the Savannah Morning News' legal request.
1. The Savannah Morning News sued Memorial Health and its flagship hospital, Memorial University Medical Center, Dec. 6 to obtain documents regarding the health system's failed partnership negotiations with Novant Health and the pending $710M sale of MUMC to Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, which has not yet been finalized.
2, According to the Savannah Morning News' lawsuit, the publication has the right to obtain the documents related to both transactions under the Georgia Open Records Act. Attorneys on behalf of Memorial Health rejected the publication's request for the documents in a letter to the publication dated Dec. 29.
3. In the Dec. 13 letter to Memorial Health Board Chairman J. Curtis Lewis III, obtained by the newspaper, Dr. Rossiter said all documents related to both transactions should be "disclosed promptly, in full," to the Savannah Morning News.
"Continued rejection of the newspaper's requests is an expensive endeavor — and one that the hospital cannot afford," Dr. Rossiter said. He added Memorial Health's "continued rejection of this request could be detrimental to our shared goal of completing the transaction with [HCA] in a timely manner."
4. In his Dec. 19 response to Dr. Rossiter's letter, also obtained by the Savannah Morning News, Mr. Lewis said while Memorial Health officials "agree that documents maintained by Memorial … may be subject to the Georgia Open Records Act," some of the information the publication requested includes personal and salary information of Memorial Health physician employees.
"We believe we owe it to our employees to protect such sensitive information if it is not required to be disclosed under [the open records law]," Mr. Lewis said.
5. Mr. Lewis also agreed with Dr. Rossiter's notion that finalizing the proposed deal with HCA represents the top priority, the report states.
To read the full Savannah Morning News report, click here.
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