HCA Inc. on Wednesday agreed to pay $77 million to the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City on top of nearly $162 million it was ordered to pay last year.
The payment averts a hearing in May in which a judge was to decide how much additional money, if any, HCA owed.
The payment stems from a lawsuit the foundation, which was created from the proceeds of the sale of Health Midwest to HCA in 2003, filed in 2009. The suit alleged that HCA Midwest Health System reneged on obligations it assumed when it bought Health Midwest.
That agreement required HCA to make $450 million in capital expenditures over five years. Unless it met that obligation, HCA was required to pay the shortfall to the foundation.
“Today’s filing of the stipulation related to required capital improvements was another step in a long process," Bridget McCandless, the foundation's president and CEO, said in a statement." During this ongoing litigation, HCF’s Board remains dedicated and committed to making sure the uninsured and underserved receive the resources that were afforded to them through the sale of Health Midwest."
Last year Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence ordered HCA to pay the foundation $161.9 million after finding that it had failed to make promised building improvements to the hospitals it bought.
The foundation said it would use the funds to create grants to provide care for uninsured or underinsured families in the Kansas City area.
Still unresolved is whether HCA, the largest for-profit hospital chain in the country, owes additional money for charitable care spending it was also required to undertake as part of the 2003 sale. A hearing on that issue has been set for July.
Both sides have reserved the right to appeal.
