Lawrence Memorial Hospital leaders voted Wednesday to move forward with a partnership that would allow patients to receive free legal assistance.

The nine-member board of trustees asked that the hospital’s legal counsel, Andrew Ramirez, work on an agreement with the Kansas University law school in which students would work with in-need patients.

A contract will be brought to the board’s November meeting for final consideration, and hospital leaders are aiming to start the program in early 2016.

“The point is to provide an additional service to our neediest population — our community members who are low income and don’t have access to those resources,” said board member John Bullock, an attorney at the law firm Stevens & Brand. “Many may not realize there’s a legal dimension to their health issues. It gives us an opportunity to help.”

The agreement calls for KU law students, led by a KU staff attorney and independent of LMH, to assist patients having problems with health insurance coverage, such as senior citizens who are wrongfully denied benefits.

Another example given by the board was helping patients who live in housing that’s not kept to sanitary codes and may have caused illness or exacerbated existing health conditions.

Board members voted 8-1 to have Ramirez draw up a contract. Board member Allen Belot abstained, stating he had questions about the program that hadn’t been answered.

“I have a heart,” Belot said. “Growing up in a family with an attorney, I’m just nervous.”

Belot cited concerns that a draft contract contained wording that the agreement would be automatically renewed annually. He also said there was “no tangible way to find out if we got any return on investment.”

As part of the agreement, LMH would make an annual donation of $100,000 to the KU Endowment Association. That money would then go to the law school to pay for a staff attorney who would run the program.

If approved next month, the funding would be put into the hospital’s 2016 budget.

“It concerns me to spend money on something that gives us no rate of return in a time of failing revenues,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve had enough discussion on this.”

In response, Bullock said the idea was not a new one. He noted the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership and a study that found that a similar agreement in Southern Illinois helped hospitals recover health care dollars.

In their motion Wednesday, board members asked that progress be tracked and that they receive a report six months after the program begins.

The board also discussed the importance of an existing clause that would allow LMH to opt out of the program, as long as they give six months’ notice.

Also included in the contract will be protections against law students helping patients sue LMH or its physicians, Ramirez said.

The staff attorney and students involved in the program would have their own office space at an LMH facility. Bullock said there would four to eight students involved each year.

The KU law school already has a medical-legal agreement in place with KU Medical Center.

Gene Meyer, president and CEO of LMH, said the hospital “should be a leader in community health” and that “this type of program can continue to show our leadership.”

Rob Chestnut, chairman of the board, said the program would meet what he thinks will be a growing demand for assistance in receiving health insurance coverage.

“We’re entering into an age in health care where there’s going to be a lot of people getting displaced from traditional insurance,” Chestnut said. “What I see is that it’s not only going to be the neediest people in our community, but over the next five to 10 years a lot of people are going to be in transition searching for health care. Where are they going to go? A lot of them are going to figure it out, but a lot of them are going to need help.”

In other business, trustees:

• Unanimously elected their new officers for 2015-2016, effective immediately. Cindy Yulich is the new chair, John Bullock the vice chair, Mike Wildgen the treasurer and Jane Blocher the secretary.

• Unanimously agreed to start forming a committee, led by Rob Chestnut, to search for the new hospital CEO. Current CEO Gene Meyer will retire in May. It was recommended the search committee comprise nine members: three to four current trustees and two physicians — one employed by LMH and one in independent practice — as well as one to three at-large members.

• Unanimously approved the acquisition of Lawrence Therapy Services, a private therapy practice with two locations. The acquisition expands LMH’s services to include pediatric and massage therapy and adds a location in Baldwin City, where LMH already has a primary care physician practice. LMH will take over leases at the Lawrence and Baldwin City locations, purchase equipment and offer employment to about 9 of 16 current employees.