In an open letter, Senator Fedor, 11th District, addresses Dr. Christopher Cooper, stating,”it is time for you to resign.”
Sen. Fedor goes on to say Cooper has spent five years “dismantling UTMC” and that “Ohio’s attorney general is examining possible anti-trust violations” because of the university’s academic affiliation agreement with ProMedica.
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Media
Blade: State senator calls on UT medical college dean to resign
She said that Dr. Cooper, who helped write a 2015 agreement between the university and ProMedica that critics argue has shifted services away from the South Toledo medical center, “destroyed UTMC hospital, almost single-handedly.” The university maintains the agreement has helped create a better pipeline from the university to the field for healthcare providers in northwest Ohio.
“You crafted the affiliation agreement and are overseeing its implementation,” Ms. Fedor wrote to Dr. Cooper. “Therefore, you are largely responsible for how it has benefited ProMedica at the expense of UTMC and the surrounding communities.”
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Blade: UTMC professor asks FTC to investigate ProMedica takeover proposal
Dr. Daniel Rapport filed the FTC complaint Saturday after ProMedica submitted a bid this month to take over operation of— but not own — UTMC in response to the University of Toledo’s advertisement for proposals to purchase, lease, or manage the hospital, according to a news release issued by the Save UTMC Coalition.
In his complaint, Dr. Rapport argues an affiliation agreement signed between the university and ProMedica five years ago has resulted in all UTMC faculty and residents — save for those in all orthopedics, family medicine, and psychiatry — to move their practices to the flagship hospital of ProMedica. Orthopedics, among UTMC’s top revenue-generators, are supposed to move to ProMedica by July 1, he wrote.
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Blade: Representatives, community rally against ProMedica proposal for UTMC
Don’t let ProMedica operate the University of Toledo Medical Center, opponents of such a move said during a fired-up rally near that hospital Saturday afternoon.
The protest on the lawn of the Eleanor N. Dana Cancer Center followed by three days the local health care behemoth’s announcement Wednesday of its interest in running — but not buying — the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital. State and local representatives, union leaders and others joined concerned neighbors in expressing their opposition to the proposed arrangement.
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Blade: Toledo at risk of losing UTMC if ProMedica takes over, says Mercy Health
Bob Baxter, president of Mercy Health North, said in his letter — dated June 1 and obtained by The Blade Friday — that “the greater Toledo community is at risk of losing a hospital that provides vital health care service to the poor and underserved in our community” if ProMedica is allowed to take charge of UTMC.
The letter cited a 2015 academic affiliation agreement between the university and ProMedica which allowed the health provider to give the university’s college of medicine and life sciences an influx of money for building projects.
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Blade: ProMedica announces bid to take over operations of UTMC
“ProMedica announced Wednesday that it has bid to take over operations of the University of Toledo Medical Center.
The University of Toledo had set a Wednesday deadline for bids to purchase, lease, or manage the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital.
ProMedica said its proposal would keep UTMC publicly owned. According to the system, the university would remain owners of the hospital while ProMedica would “provide management and other services.” The university and health-care system signed a 50-year affiliation agreement with the hospital in 2015. “
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Becker’s Hospital Review: Ohio officials to governor: Stop potential UTMC sale, orthopedic services transfer
The officials said that a 50-year affiliation agreement struck in 2015 with ProMedica has resulted in several of UTMC’s top revenue-generating departments being transferred to ProMedica. The officials also argue that UTMC has lost many of its teaching physicians and students to ProMedica.
“There are growing concerns that this agreement positioned ProMedica for a hostile takeover of UTMC,” Ms. Fedor told the publication.
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Blade: Group continues effort to stop sale of university hospital
Ms. Fedor and former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner have been key advocates against UT giving up control of its hospital. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), state Rep. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D., Toledo), Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, and Toledo City Councilmen Rob Ludeman, Katie Moline, and Gary Johnson also attended Saturday’s event to show support.
Ms. Fedor told the crowd, who were practicing social distancing and wearing masks, that their efforts have successfully gotten Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s attention. She urged them to continue writing letters and sending emails to both the governor’s office and other elected and appointed officials to keep the pressure on. Many UTMC employees were present.
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Blade: Ohio lawmakers make another plea for halt to possible UTMC sale
Local lawmakers previously sent a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine asking that he intervene and Ms. Fedor and State Rep. Mike Sheehy (D., Oregon), sent a second on Monday, reminding the governor that when he was Ohio attorney general and supported the 2015 UT/ProMedica agreement, he had noted then that “the Attorney General reserved the right to take future action, should the proposed affiliation prove to be anticompetitive in purpose or effect.”
“It is now clear that the effect of the affiliation agreement has been anticompetitive, and recent news reports about possible conflicts of interest involving two UT trustees raise questions whether one purpose for the agreement was to undermine UTMC,” the letter read. “The 50-year agreement was marketed as a means to improve UT’s strained finances and to help its [UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences] enhance its academic mission. Neither has occurred.”
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Blade: Court action is further reason to halt UTMC sale, leaders say
“Dr. Mitchell in his court filings asserts that both Mr. Cavanaugh and Ms. Pisanelli were being paid by ProMedica business associates and had an interest in seeing that their decisions benefited the non-profit health care system at the detriment of UTMC, which was a competitor.
Dr. Mitchell said Mr. Cavanaugh — appointed to the board in 2014 and as chairman in 2017 — voted for the negotiation and approval of the public UT-ProMedica contract on May 11 and July 24, 2015. Back then, he was president and CEO of what was then Toledo-based HCR ManorCare, which was a ProMedica business partner — together building a nursing home years earlier as a joint venture on ProMedica’s Flower Hospital campus.
ProMedica would later rescue ManorCare from a $7 billion bankruptcy and Mr. Cavanaugh later resigned from the board once he was hired as ProMedica’s chief financial officer.
Dr. Mitchell asserts Ms. Pisanelli, who was appointed to the board in August, 2015 — after the affiliation agreement was signed — has a conflict of interest regarding ProMedica because she initially worked as a partner in Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, a law firm that contracted to represent ProMedica. She then joined real estate investment trust Welltower, Inc. as Senior Vice President in July, 2017.
Dr. Mitchell notes that her tie with Welltower is a conflict of interest because the company joined in an 80-20 joint venture — known as Meerkat LLC — with ProMedica in July, 2018 to assume ownership of all ManorCare properties — the same company that Mr. Cavanaugh was in charge of.”
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