Jefferson County commissioners debated Tuesday whether a UAB-run health authority ought to take over the management of Cooper Green Mercy Health Services.
A county commission committee voted 3-2 to transport the difficulty to Thursday’s timetable to ratify the vote.
Cooper Green, a county-owned hospital offering indigent healthcare, stopped its inpatient medical institution services in 2012. Currently, outpatient clinics perform in the construction like Alabama Regional Medical Services and a pressing-care facility.
The UAB University Healthcare Authority would observe the provisions in a 2016 country law permitting universities with medical colleges to create University Health Authorities. The fee’s suggestion might imply the county would interact with UAB to create a healthcare authority and allow UAB to address the facility’s management and the care of Cooper Green’s patients.
The authority would imply that UAB assumes the risks of value overages, that UAB and Cooper Green might percentage prices for lab work and pharmacy operations, that UAB could put its IT system in force, and that UAB might benefit from a buying operation.
Cooper Green uses the Indigent Care Fund, derived from the county’s popular income and use tax and the county’s alcoholic beverage tax. In 2017, Cooper Green’s costs had been over $7 million more than its sales, in step with Jefferson County Commission Chief Financial Officer John Henry. The middle additionally has to comply with the county’s operating structure. The authority might manipulate how indigent care finances have been allocated and used.
According to commissioners who assist the authority taking on the center, the model could allow Cooper Green to run extra correctly. UAB would bear the responsibility for Cooper Green’s patients and the price.
Of the seven members of the health authority’s board, three would be selected by the county commission, and four could be chosen via UAB. No elected officers, including commissioners, might be allowed to sit on the board.
