CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the litigation regarding the merger between Cabell Huntington Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Jan. 23 beginning at 10 a.m. St. Mary’s Medical Center v. Steel of West Virginia and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey v. Steel of West Virginia will be heard first. Steel of West Virginia v. West Virginia Health Care Authority will be held second.
Steel of West Virginia has voiced its unhappiness with the merger from the beginning.
The company claims the deal with create a healthcare monopoly for Huntington and its surrounding area. It also claims healthcare prices would be higher and quality would diminish.
St. Mary’s and Morrisey filed separate appeals of two Oct. 28, 2016, orders of Kanawha Circuit Court requiring production of certain documents related to the proposed sale of St. Mary’s.
The documents at issue were requested by a third-party through a Freedom of Information Act request served upon Morrisey. St. Mary’s and Morrisey argue that the circuit court erred in requiring the disclosure of these documents, as said documents were exempt from disclosure by West Virginia Code §§ 29B-1-4(a)(1) and (5), and West Virginia Code § 47-18-7(d).
St. Mary’s and Pallottine Health Services also appeal the circuit court’s Oct. 28, 2016 order denying their motion to intervene and argue that the circuit court erred in finding that their interests were adequately represented by the existing parties.
In Steel’s suit against WVHCA, Steel appeals the circuit court’s April 19 “Final Order” that affirmed the WVHCA’s decision to issue a certificate of need to Cabell Huntington in its purchase of St. Mary’s.
Steel claims WVHCA committed an error of law by not considering alternatives in terms of cost, efficiency and appropriateness to the proposed acquisition, per state code and previous precedent.
The company believes the authority failed to consider "superior alternatives" to the merger of Cabell Huntington and St. Mary's.
In April, Kanawha Circuit Judge James Stucky affirmed WVHCA’s decision to grant a certificate of need in the hospital merger between the hospitals.
Steel has opposed the merger since it was announced in 2014.
Stucky ruled that other bids are not "practicable" because they have already been rejected by St. Mary's and that the bid information is not relevant.
He wrote that the certificate of need law was not intended to serve as a legal review process over how a private corporation conducts the sale of its own property.
The hospitals still need Vatican approval to complete the $165 million transaction.
In 2014, the Pallottine Sisters announced plans to sell the hospital. Cabell began the acquisition then.
In November 2014, a transfer agreement was signed between the two hospitals. The WVHCA approved the hospital’s certificate of need in January and approved the cooperative agreement in June.
Steel of West Virginia listed six “errors of fact and law” it alleges the WVHCA made when it approved the cooperative agreement in its appeal of the merger.
