Detroit Free Press
Three nonprofit groups opposed to the sale of the Detroit Medical Center to for-profit Vanguard Health Systems of Nashville today asked Michigan’s attorney general for a thorough investigation of the purchase.
In response to a letter from the attorney general requesting more information about their objections, the Coalition to Protect Detroit Health Care sent a three-page letter of questions and requests, including checking with the attorney generals in four states where Vanguard owns former nonprofit hospitals to see if the company upheld community commitments elsewhere.
The coalition will meet Wednesday with Tracy Sonneborn, an assistant attorney general, to explain concerns raised in the letter.
The coalition is comprised of the Michigan Universal Health Care Network, a pro-health reform coalition; the Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength, or Moses, an organization of community and religious leaders active on health issues, and Michigan Legal Services, a Detroit legal aid organization.
Mike Duggan, CEO of the medical center, said today that the Vanguard purchase has widespread community support and the health system will “do whatever the AG asks us to do” to answer questions.
Last month, the coalition opposed to the sale, saying it would violate the state’s nonprofit statute.
“We want the attorney general to look at the long-term sustainability” of the DMC after the purchase and “what track record is in other states" where Vanguard has purchased other non-profit hospitals and converted them into investor-owned facilities, said Marjorie Mitchell, a coalition spokeswoman and executive director of the health care network.
“We want to know if Vanguard provided essential services to the community” after those purchases, Mitchell said. While a pledge by Vanguard to invest $850 million in DMC improvements will provide short-term benefits, “what’s in it for the long term?”
“We need to be sure that the needs of the city of Detroit are adequately addressed.” Even though Vanguard has pledged to keep the DMC’s full-service hospitals open, any could be closed with DMC board approval, she added. “With board approval — that seems to be a big loophole,” Mitchell said.
The two companies have signed a letter-of-intent for Vanguard to buy the Detroit Medical Center, Michigan’s largest safety net hospital system for the poor and under-insured, and hope to finalize the deal by June 1. It hinges on state approval by Attorney General Mike Cox. The purchase has been widely supported by Detroit and Wayne County non profit hospital leaders and is viewed as a major boost to a battered city eager for new investments.
In their letter, written in response to a request from the attorney general’s office for more details, the groups ask for:
• An assessment of which services are vital to the DMC and must be maintained, such as Hutzel Women’s hospital’s premature baby unit and Detroit Receiving’s trauma department.
• A broader regional assessment, so the community knows what impact any cuts could have on certain services in the area.
• An independent valuation and appraisal of the sale by someone other than DMC or Vanguard.
• How will Vanguard’s highly leveraged situation affect the DMC in the future? Does it make Vanguard “ripe for somebody bigger to buy”?
• Will hiring be mostly from Detroit or outside the state?
• Will Vanguard cut departments and close hospitals as it has in other cities where it bought nonprofit hospitals?
In response to a letter from the attorney general requesting more information about their objections, the Coalition to Protect Detroit Health Care sent a three-page letter of questions and requests, including checking with the attorney generals in four states where Vanguard owns former nonprofit hospitals to see if the company upheld community commitments elsewhere.
The coalition will meet Wednesday with Tracy Sonneborn, an assistant attorney general, to explain concerns raised in the letter.
The coalition is comprised of the Michigan Universal Health Care Network, a pro-health reform coalition; the Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength, or Moses, an organization of community and religious leaders active on health issues, and Michigan Legal Services, a Detroit legal aid organization.
Mike Duggan, CEO of the medical center, said today that the Vanguard purchase has widespread community support and the health system will “do whatever the AG asks us to do” to answer questions.
Last month, the coalition opposed to the sale, saying it would violate the state’s nonprofit statute.
“We want the attorney general to look at the long-term sustainability” of the DMC after the purchase and “what track record is in other states" where Vanguard has purchased other non-profit hospitals and converted them into investor-owned facilities, said Marjorie Mitchell, a coalition spokeswoman and executive director of the health care network.
“We want to know if Vanguard provided essential services to the community” after those purchases, Mitchell said. While a pledge by Vanguard to invest $850 million in DMC improvements will provide short-term benefits, “what’s in it for the long term?”
“We need to be sure that the needs of the city of Detroit are adequately addressed.” Even though Vanguard has pledged to keep the DMC’s full-service hospitals open, any could be closed with DMC board approval, she added. “With board approval — that seems to be a big loophole,” Mitchell said.
The two companies have signed a letter-of-intent for Vanguard to buy the Detroit Medical Center, Michigan’s largest safety net hospital system for the poor and under-insured, and hope to finalize the deal by June 1. It hinges on state approval by Attorney General Mike Cox. The purchase has been widely supported by Detroit and Wayne County non profit hospital leaders and is viewed as a major boost to a battered city eager for new investments.
In their letter, written in response to a request from the attorney general’s office for more details, the groups ask for:
• An assessment of which services are vital to the DMC and must be maintained, such as Hutzel Women’s hospital’s premature baby unit and Detroit Receiving’s trauma department.
• A broader regional assessment, so the community knows what impact any cuts could have on certain services in the area.
• An independent valuation and appraisal of the sale by someone other than DMC or Vanguard.
• How will Vanguard’s highly leveraged situation affect the DMC in the future? Does it make Vanguard “ripe for somebody bigger to buy”?
• Will hiring be mostly from Detroit or outside the state?
• Will Vanguard cut departments and close hospitals as it has in other cities where it bought nonprofit hospitals?
