Status quo is no longer an option for the Erlanger Health System Board of Trustees, its leadership has determined, and officials are looking to transition the public hospital to a nonprofit model in an effort to level the playing field with the system’s private competitors and remain the Chattanooga region’s safety net medical provider for decades to come.
Board chair Jim Coleman said it’s been more than 45 years since local leaders saw a need to restructure the hospital and the Tennessee legislature passed the private act establishing the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority — which performs the governmental function of owning and operating the health system under the direction of an 11-member volunteer board.
“It’s logical at this point in time that we sit back and look at all the changes that have happened since 1977 in health care — and it’s been a tremendous number of changes and it’s continuing to change — that we look at a structure that would allow us to respond to those challenges and changes in the health care arena more quickly and execute more efficiently,” said Coleman, a hospital industry veteran who joined the board in 2019 and served as chair of its budget and finance committee before becoming board chair in November.
After nine months of due diligence, Coleman said the board began approaching stakeholders, including Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger, to begin the process of exploring a new governance structure for Erlanger. Although Erlanger must provide notice and hold public board meetings to conduct official business, Tennessee law allows public hospital boards to meet in private to “discuss and develop marketing strategies and strategic plans.”
While the board governs the hospital, the land and building are owned by the county.