It’s been a tough battle.

And with the contentious negotiations between Kansas University Hospital and KU Medical Center unresolved, KU Hospital President Irene Cumming is planning her exit.

“I do not regret fighting for our patients and high quality care,” Cumming said Monday in a released statement. “I do not regret fighting to demand respect for The University of Kansas Hospital among those who resent our leadership role in health care. I do not regret responding honestly and directly when asked about our views.”

Cumming, KU Hospital’s president and chief executive officer since 1996, will leave at the end of June to become president and CEO of the Oak Brook, Ill.-based University HealthSystem Consortium, the hospital announced Monday.

Cumming’s resignation comes as KU Hospital continues to battle for its interests as KUMC considers affiliations with other Kansas City-area hospitals, primarily St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

For months, KU Hospital and KUMC leaders have been negotiating a new affiliation agreement, with KUMC leaders also hoping to forge new alliances with other area hospitals. KUMC leaders maintain that new partnerships are key to becoming a national leader in cancer research.

But Cumming has voiced her concerns that the medical center’s affiliation with St. Luke’s would be detrimental to KU Hospital, hampering the hospital’s ability to recruit and train doctors and taking programs from KU Hospital to St. Luke’s.

Lawmakers’ involvement

The Kansas Legislature has gotten involved. Some lawmakers have proposed cutting KUMC’s state funding if it reached an agreement with St. Luke’s without a majority approval from the KU Hospital board. That proposal failed, but the House last week did approve an amendment requiring KUMC to get majority approval from the Kansas Board of Regents and the KU Hospital board before implementing an agreement with St. Luke’s.

House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls and a critic of KUMC’s proposed affiliation with St. Luke’s, on Monday released a statement lamenting Cumming’s departure.

“Irene Cumming’s departure is a great loss for the University of Kansas Hospital Authority, its staff and patients, and the state of Kansas,” he said. “Irene made quality patient care her top priority as a hospital administrator and through her dedication, determination and leadership, she moved the hospital from near bankruptcy to a nationally recognized teaching facility.”

Negotiations between the hospital and the medical center continue.

The hospital reports that it is close to a “broad outline” of an agreement. And though Cumming vowed to stay through June to ensure uninterrupted negotiations, the brokering could fall to an as-yet-unnamed successor.

“We are close on a broad outline of where an agreement can go,” KU Hospital spokesman Dennis McCulloch said. “That’s not an agreement. That’s a broad outline. : Getting that down to where implementations occur, I’m not willing to put any timetable – neither is (Cumming) willing to put any timetable – on getting that done.”

In her statement, Cumming said important issues have been minimized as the feud with KUMC was characterized as a clash of personalities, presumably alluding to the long-rumored animosity between Cumming and KU Medical Center Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara Atkinson.

“It is my hope now, that the future of both entities on our shared campus will be determined by honestly examining critical issues and not personal ones,” Cumming said.

Heralded leader

Atkinson, who could not be reached for comment Monday, released a statement praising Cumming and the hospital.

“We pledge to continue our good-faith negotiations on an affiliation agreement and stand ready to help facilitate a smooth transition by working with the hospital’s designated successor to move forward as a unified academic medical center and to ensure our collective, long-term success,” Atkinson said.

KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway and KU Provost Richard Lariviere, both members of the KU Hospital Authority board, also released statements praising Cumming.

“My focus will be on ensuring a continuity of strong, dedicated leadership at the hospital, so that we can continue to be a nationally recognized medical center at KU,” said Hemenway, who is vice chairman of the hospital authority board.

Cumming first joined the hospital staff in 1994 as chief financial officer. A year later, she added chief operating officer to her title.

In the late 1990s, she led the effort to change the hospital’s governance. The hospital in 1998 split from the university to be governed by an independent board.

“She has totally turned the hospital around and made it a truly great place to go,” said Robert Honse, a member of the hospital’s board. “Also, the financial condition of the hospital is improved beyond anyone’s expectations.”

George Farha, chairman of the KU Hospital Authority, said Monday that a successor would be named “well in advance” of Cumming’s departure.

The University HealthSystem Consortium is an alliance of academic medical centers and their affiliate hospitals. Cumming has been involved with the consortium for years, serving on the member board of directors, task forces and committees. She was chairwoman of the member board of directors in 2004 and 2005.