Catoosa settles
Last week, the Catoosa County Commission voted to accept a settlement agreement with Erlanger Health System to repay part of the loan the Chattanooga hospital once gave to Hutcheson Medical Center. Catoosa County will pay Erlanger $6.2 million — about $3.8 million less than the original bill.
Earlier this month, the chairman of Hutcheson Medical Center‘s board demanded that Walker County officials cough up millions.
In response, those Walker County officials said last week the demand is illegal.
Thus transpired another step in the slow, tense dance between local government leaders and representatives from the hospital’s board, known as the Hospital Authority of Catoosa, Dade and Walker Counties. Both sides hear Erlanger Health System officials knocking at the door, demanding payment.
The board’s leaders are prepared to abandon their dance partners, leaving them on the hook for the money. But Walker County’s officials are clawing at the board, trying to keep it by their side.