AG Rules University Medical Center Inc. Public

{Kentucky}...Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway ruled Thursday that University Medical Center Inc., the nonprofit corporation that operates University Hospital, is a public institution, not a private one as the hospital and the University of Louisville have claimed in arguments for a proposed merger. Conway found that University Medical Center Inc. was established and created, and is controlled by the University of Louisville. Conway said UMC violated the state’s open-records law when it refused to turn over records requested by ACLU of Kentucky. Conway’s decision will not directly affect the fate of the proposed merger between three hospital systems, which would put University Hospital under Catholic control, but the finding reinforces the earlier positions by Conway and Governor Steve Beshear that the deal cannot take place without the approval of state government, which owns the hospital property and granted the contract for University Medical Center to operate it. The finding also could have implications for the merger’s fate because arguments that the deal would violate the Constitution’s ban on government favoring a religion are based on University Hospital being public.