Last Friday a 37-page “draft” of an affiliation agreement between Kansas University and St. Luke’s Hospital of Missouri was sent to Hospital President and CEO Robert Page by Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean of the KU Medical School Barbara Atkinson.

KU Hospital directors were scheduled to meet the following Tuesday, Sept. 11, and it remains questionable whether Atkinson expected KU Hospital Advisory Board members to give their blessing to the draft or whether it was simply done to let board members know what Atkinson, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway and KUMC officials were planning to present to St. Luke’s for their approval later this month.

It is known KU Hospital directors previously had pushed Hemenway to let board members have a chance to see what was being proposed before an affiliation with St. Luke’s was a done deal. Atkinson attended the Sept. 11 meeting and those at the gathering said it was obvious she was surprised and quite “furious” that it was an open meeting. Perhaps she is so used to working in a secret environment that she didn’t expect to have the KUMC-St. Luke’s deal exposed to the public.

The St. Luke’s board is scheduled to meet Friday for approval of the agreement, apparently regardless of whether KU Hospital officials give their blessing to the “draft,” which leaves many unanswered questions. KU Hospital leaders are concerned about the KUMC-St. Luke’s affiliation because St. Luke’s is a direct competitor with KU Hospital, and the Hemenway/Atkinson plan strengthens St. Luke’s at the expense of KU. Also, there are yet to be disclosed parts of the deal that could have a significant negative impact on KU, such as transferring part of the KU cardiac program to St. Luke’s.

Inasmuch as most all of the planning and negotiating has been done in secrecy, it wouldn’t be surprising if there would be many potential bombshells in the agreement, only to be made public after the signing between KUMC and St. Luke’s.

However, doesn’t it seem that astute St. Luke’s officials would be reluctant to sign any deal before KU Hospital and KUMC officials had reached an understanding relative to the future relationship between these two institutions?

KU Hospital, Kansas City’s outstanding institution, plays a significant role and without its cooperation and without the $42.5 million yearly payments leaders have suggested they would pay to KUMC, any deal might be in serious trouble. The $42.5 million would be paid only if KU Hospital officials agreed to the future relationship between the two institutions. At this time it is not a guaranteed payment.

After a year of planning and dealing behind closed doors with St. Luke’s officials, a handful of Kansas City business leaders, such as Bill Hall and Irv Hockaday, several KU officials, such as Vice Chancellor Atkinson and Chancellor Hemenway, Atkinson is primed to hand over a plan that strengthens St. Luke’s at the expense of KUMC, KU Hospital and the State of Kansas.

After reading the “draft,” anyone halfway interested in the welfare of the medical school, KU Hospital and the State of Kansas has to ask, “What does Kansas or KU get out of this deal? Does this make KU a better medical school and better hospital? Or, is this designed primarily to help strengthen St. Luke’s?”

It’s a giveaway and as one KU Hospital official said, “Where’s the beef?”

There’s nothing in the agreement about the specific number of residents to be provided for St. Luke’s, there’s nothing specific about any financial arrangements between KU Hospital and KUMC, and nothing specific about financial arrangements between KUMC and St. Luke’s.

Also, with all the talk about the importance of this agreement relative to KUMC eventually being recognized as a National Cancer Institute, nothing specific is said about this effort even though KU officials have said this is KU’s No. 1 goal.

Are all such questions to be discussed after the signing?

How can any responsible body act and vote on a legally binding agreement that is presented only as a “draft”? What kind of costly legal advice are KUMC and St. Luke’s officials relying on?

Some very high profile Kansas individuals say they have been informed they will not be told of various yet-to-be-disclosed features of the agreement until a later date, perhaps after it has been signed and sealed. Secrecy still seems to be the name of the game practiced by Hemenway, Atkinson and St. Luke’s.

At this time, there is no reason to believe KU Hospital board members will approve the “draft” plan before the St. Luke’s board meeting on Sept. 21. Some suggest KUMC officials intend to move ahead with or without an OK by KU Hospital.

The agreement gives St. Luke’s doctors and staffers the right to say on their business cards that they have a faculty title with the Kansas University School of Medicine.

It’s interesting the KU Medical School “shall not have the right to use the brands and marks of St. Luke’s Hospital.” However, “St. Luke’s Hospital shall have the right to use the brands and marks of the University.”

It is understood several KUMC or KU spokespersons have said they don’t need the approval of the state legislature to execute such a deal with St. Luke’s even though the medical school is a state/public facility and receives millions of Kansas taxpayer’s dollars every year.

It is understandable, but deplorable, that Kansas Regents apparently think whatever Atkinson and Hemenway want is OK with them and that there is no need to study all aspects of the giveaway. Kansas deserves something better from the regents. They are not supposed to be a rubber stamp for Hemenway, Kansas State University President Jon Wefald or any regents school proxy.

When are Kansas regents going to measure up to their responsibilities to the people of Kansas?

Are there any Kansas legislators other than Rep. Melvin Neufeld who have the courage, backbone, intelligence and commitment to their responsibilities to ask questions about what is going on with the KUMC, KU Hospital, St. Luke’s deal? Neufeld asks questions and expects to get honest answers rather than nice-sounding assurances. Why doesn’t he get some support from Senate leaders? Don’t the senators have any questions or concerns about what is in the best interests of Kansas?

What about the anonymous Kansas City philanthropic people who were supposed to come up with $150 million, or more, to pour into the KU-St. Luke’s deal when there are so many unanswered questions and few confirmed commitments? What about their support for the cancer institute project which was supposed to be so critical to Kansas City?

Atkinson says this and other important matters will be unveiled in yet-to-be disclosed “separate” agreements.

Talk about buying a pig in a poke.

As one senior KU Hospital representative said, Atkinson, Hemenway and others “have put a gun to our head and asked us to sign a blank check. We are not going to do it.”

Some may think the hospital matter is coming to a mutually agreeable conclusion, but it is far from that. It remains a hotly contested issue with growing numbers of observers wondering what deals or incentives may be in the offing for Hemenway or Atkinson to cause them to be so committed to this giveaway that does so little for Kansas. In fact, according to KU Hospital representatives, it would weaken the Hospital and KUMC.

It doesn’t make sense.