photo by: Ashley Golledge/Journal-World File Photo

The emergency entrance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital is shown in this file photo from Jan. 26, 2018.

Plans on how to manage LMH Health’s emergency department are the main topic for a special meeting of the LMH board of trustees on Wednesday.

The LMH Health board and the hospital’s medical executive committee — a group of doctors and other medical providers — will participate in a special meeting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday via Zoom conference call.

The meeting comes as LMH administrators earlier this month proposed and then backed away from a plan to end the hospital’s more than 25-year relationship with Lawrence Emergency Medicine Associates, which is responsible for providing and managing the doctors in the emergency department and in LMH’s hospitalist program, which cares for other inpatient clients of the hospital.

LMH leaders ended a plan to award the management contract to Envision Physician Services after several members of the medical staff questioned how the hedge fund-owned company would operate the emergency department, and several members of the public questioned financial and operating practices of the company that have been reported on nationally.

After moving away from the Envision deal, the hospital said it would focus on negotiating a new contract with LEMA. As part of that process, the hospital said it would hold a joint meeting with its medical executive committee and representatives from LEMA, who are scheduled to participate in Wednesday’s meeting.

Finances were a key component of LMH’s plan to switch to Envision previously. Hospital executives estimated LMH may have to pay LEMA $5 million more over a three-year period than it would have paid Envision to manage the department. Hospital leaders have said they want to further negotiate those details.

The special meeting is open to the public via Zoom. The registration number is 95330420931.