To the editor:

Most of us are not experts in the business of running hospitals or medical centers. However, we know the difference between a “merger” and an “affiliation.”

An affiliation is a partnership, a pact to work together. A merger is turning two into one.

A recent Journal-World editorial (“Timeout,” March 1) mistakenly said Kansas University sought to merge with St. Luke’s Hospital System, not once, but five times.

A majority of the top 25 U.S. academic medical schools have affiliations with multiple hospitals. This includes medical schools who hold primary relationships with a primary teaching hospital, such as the KU Medical Center has with the KU Hospital.

Expanding partnerships with top hospitals in the region will greatly strengthen the state’s only medical school, we will be able to train better doctors by exposing them to a more diverse clinical training, we can train ultimately about 100 more doctors a year, and we can expand our research programs to find more cures for patients.

In addition, successful affiliations with multiple hospitals are critical to achieve National Cancer Institute designation as a comprehensive cancer center. Reaching that designation is KU’s No. 1 priority.

The proposed affiliations are not mergers, the talks have not been secret, and a broader KU affiliation with St. Luke’s is anything but a scary prospect for the beneficiaries: the people of Kansas.

It’s a good thing to ask hard questions, but even better to get the facts right.

Amy Jordan Wooden,

senior director for public affairs,

KU Medical Center