Topeka ? Kansas University Medical Center Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara Atkinson may have spoke too soon.

She told the Kansas Board of Regents on Thursday morning that by the end of the day, KU Hospital and KUMC would be tantalizingly close to ending months of negotiations over a new affiliation.

KU Hospital officials, however, were somewhat less encouraged.

“This is the first of a series of meetings where we’ve invited the attorneys in. We still have some tough sledding ahead of us,” KU Hospital CEO Bob Page said. “I have confidence that this will get done, but I have no expectation that there will be ribbons and bows today.”

Atkinson told the regents that KUMC and KU Hospital had agreements on principles, had exchanged drafts of contract language and would be inviting the attorneys in Thursday to determine if all parties – the hospital, KUMC and the KU physicians group – could accept a common set of terms.

“By the end of the day, we’ll have a good idea of where we are,” Atkinson said.

KUMC spokeswoman Amy Jordan-Wooden later Thursday tried to temper expectations for progress.

“It’s not going to be today. I think that was a bit tongue-in-cheek,” she said.

Still, Jordan-Wooden said there was no reason to expect the discussions to go past December.

Both sides hope an affiliation will increase medical research in the area, and help KU attain the National Cancer Institute designation.

Atkinson also said that St. Luke’s Hospital, KUMC and KU Hospital had reached a three-way agreement to create a Cancer Partners Advisory Board, which would do strategic planning for and advise the director of KUMC’s cancer program.

“This will be the final piece that works out the cancer issues,” Atkinson said.

Page said that while KU Hospital is very supportive of the board concept – modeled after one created for the Cancer Institute of New Jersey – no agreement had been formalized.

“If we are able to get the parties around the table, it could be a major advantage to us getting NCI,” Page said. “But I’ve not signed off on anything of that nature.”

The Cancer Partners Advisory Board could eventually grow to include other hospitals involved in cancer treatment and research.