The relationship between the board members controlling Hutcheson Medical Center and the leaders of Walker County government may be fracturing.
On April 6, county attorney Don Oliver emailed the hospital’s board members, urging them to hold a united front with Walker County in a couple of legal battles against Erlanger Health System. Oliver told the board members they should stop giving Erlanger’s leaders reasons to believe Hutcheson and the county aren’t willing to work together.
“I want to once again urge each of you (as well as the rest of the Hospital Authority Board and its attorney Tom Weldon) to not take any actions or votes that will negatively impact our ongoing lawsuit with EHS,” Oliver wrote.
Erlanger is entangled in two federal lawsuits – one against Hutcheson, the other against Walker County. Both deal with a management agreement between the two hospitals that ran from April 2011 through the fall of 2013. As part of the agreement, Erlanger loaned Hutcheson $20 million while its employees ran Hutcheson’s day-to-day operations.
As part of the deal, elected officials with Walker County and Catoosa County signed an intergovernmental agreement. The local governments promised to split the $20 million payment to Erlanger down the road, assuming Hutcheson didn’t have enough money to cover the loan.