New nominees sought for KU Hospital board

Senate leaders from both parties have urged Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and University of Kansas Hospital officials to pick new nominees to serve on the hospital's governing board.

Control and makeup of the University of Kansas Hospital Authority has come under scrutiny amid a battle between leaders of the hospital and the University of Kansas.
Thirteen of the 19 board members are selected by the governor and subject to Senate confirmation. When a vacancy occurs, a nominating committee of the board gives the governor a slate of two or three candidates from which to chose. Six members serve on the board by virtue of their positions.

Last month, Attorney General Paul Morrison told officials that University of Kansas Provost Richard Lariviere couldn't serve on the authority because the statute forming the board doesn't allow the provost to serve on it.

Several more positions on the board are due to be replaced, prompting a dispute over the selection process.

"The KU Hospital is a jewel in the crown of the Kansas health care system and must not be hamstrung by political or legal bickering and disputes," Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, and Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley, of Topeka, wrote in a joint statement issued Thursday.

Morrison's legal opinion details the responsibilities of the board's nominating committee and governor in filling those slots.

Schmidt and Hensley urged Sebelius and Bob Page, chief executive officer of the hospital, to conduct a joint review of the 19 board positions and agree on who currently holds the seat, when his or her term expires and who has the authority is to fill the seat.

The controversy comes amid a larger scuffle over a proposed partnership between the University of Kansas Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

Sebelius and University of Kansas leaders support the partnership, saying it will increase life sciences research in the area and help the university attain national status as a cancer treatment center.

But the hospital, which is partnered with the University of Kansas Medical Center, has said a medical school-St. Luke's affiliation will hurt the Kansas hospital and have no effect on attaining national cancer center designation.
source:www.cjonline.com