Jennie Stuart Health board members have been fielding calls since early in the week from community members and elected officials alarmed by reports the board is dealing with major financial losses and plans to sell the Hopkinsville hospital or merge with the Evansville, Indiana-based Deaconess Health System.
The board is scheduled to meet at noon Thursday at Jennie Stuart Medical Center, but there has been no public release of potential plans from hospital officials in Hopkinsville or Evansville. Historically, Jennie Stuart has not opened its board meetings to the public.
At least two board members confirmed that non-disclosure agreements signed several months ago prevent them from publicly discussing details of a change in Jennie Stuart’s ownership.
Hopkinsville Mayor James R. Knight Jr. said he and others he’s spoken to oppose losing local control of the hospital.
“We all believe very strongly that we need to remain a community hospital,” Knight said.
Out-of-town ownership would diminish the community’s ability to communicate its needs with the hospital, he said.
Knight, who was traveling to Louisville on Wednesday, said he was waiting for calls back from hospital administrators and board members.
Steve Tribble, the former county judge-executive, has served on the hospital board for 31 years. As of early afternoon Wednesday, at least a dozen people had called Tribble and said they had heard about a potential deal to sell Jennie Stuart to the Evansville hospital group. He listened to their concerns but couldn’t answer questions directly related to a change in ownership.
“I did sign a non-disclosure agreement … so I can’t really say much,” Tribble told Hoptown Chronicle. He said it was his understanding that all of the board members signed the NDA.
An NDA is a contract designed to keep certain information from being disclosed to the public during negotiations of a business deal. Companies frequently require economic development officials and representatives of government agencies to sign NDAs before they will agree to discuss bringing a factory or other business to a community.
Tribble said he signed numerous NDAs involving recruitment of manufacturing facilities and other businesses during his tenure as judge-executive from 1995 through 2022. He said he had not signed many NDA contracts as a hospital board member, adding it was possible it had been requested of him only once at Jennie Stuart.
Up until a few years ago, Jennie Stuart’s bylaws required the hospital to reserve a board seat for both the Christian County judge-executive and the Hopkinsville mayor. However, that practice ended with a change in the bylaws, thereby removing two board positions that previously guaranteed input from officials elected by community members.
Jennie Stuart’s bylaws change occurred while Tribble and Carter Hendrick, then mayor of Hopkinsville, were still in office. Both men then transitioned to regular board member terms. Tribble said his board term will end in the next year or so.
Knight said he would like to serve on the hospital board if the position is offered.
News of a possible sell or merger caught many in the community by surprise — including some who have worked closely with Jennie Stuart — and set off a series of calls to reach hospital board members.
One local observer with a keen interest in the hospital’s future is Tracey Williams, who chairs the Jennie Stuart Health Foundation. The philanthropic organization recently helped raise approximately $2 million for improvements to the hospital’s E.C. Green Cancer Center. The group had just celebrated the fundraising campaign by recognizing major donors at a reception Friday.
“I have great respect for [the hospital] board, and I have great respect for their process, but it caught me by surprise,” Williams said.
Williams said she has heard the hospital board is diligently researching options to address what could be a dire financial situation for the local facility. But it was a shock to hear the hospital might be sold, she said.
Williams added, “We honored some of the donors who had given major gifts. It’s kind of weird that we did that Friday night and then I hear at church Sunday morning that there may be a merger or there may be a sale. And I have heard it is to Deaconess.”
Jennie Stuart Medical Center is a private, not-for-profit community hospital licensed for 194 beds. It is an acute-care facility.
In addition to the main hospital and some medical practices employing physicians, Jennie Stuart has several satellite facilities, including the Blue Creek Center on Fort Campbell Boulevard, and the Express Lab, Medical Imaging and Ambulatory Surgery on Eagle Way bypass. It also runs a clinic at Trenton in Todd County.
Jennie Stuart Memorial Hospital was incorporated in 1913.
Deaconess is also a not-for-profit operation, but it is considerably larger than Jennie Stuart Health with hospitals, clinics and medical offices in Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. It has 23 hospitals, including Deaconess Midtown Hospital in Evansville. It also operates 12 urgent care centers, 46 clinics and 31 outpatient centers, according to its website. The Kentucky facilities include Baptist Health Deaconess Hospital in Madisonville and Deaconess Henderson Hospital in Henderson.
Hoptown Chronicle left messages at about 3 p.m. Wednesday seeking additional information from Jennie Stuart CEO Eric Lee and Deaconess CEO Shawn McCoy, but has not heard back from either hospital administrator.
Jennie Stuart’s board members are chairwoman Leslie Carroll, secretary/treasurer Charles Turner, Carter Hendricks, Dr. Tarek Toubia, Dr. Matthew Robinson, Marty Bozarth, Betsy Shelton, Joseph Sisk, Steve Tribble, Hollis White, Dr. Alissa Young and DeeAnna Sova.
An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information, obtained from the hospital’s website, about hospital board members. Janet Dixon and Dr. Casey Covington are no longer on the board, but DeeAnna Sova and Dr. Tarek Toubia are members.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
