Nashville General Hospital Files Suit Against FMM

Nashville General Hospital filed suit yesterday against the company that oversees health care for the state’s prison population.

The suit charges Utah-based First Medical Management Company with a breach of contract. Hospital Authority C-E-O Reginald Coopwood says the company has reduced the amount of money it pays for services.

“That redefinition has significantly cost us revenue to a tune of about 1.5-million dollars over the last three months, and the way they redefine that going forward would considerably reduce the amount they pay us each month for the services we’re providing for the state’s prisoners.”

The company said in a statement that is has not yet received the lawsuit, but believes that Metro was over-billing it for certain services.

Coopwood attended a meeting of the Metro Council’s budget and Finance committee late yesterday to answer questions regarding 11-and-a-half-million-dollars the hospital needs to make it to the end of the fiscal year. The request is actually an increase in the amount the city has loaned the hospital which will total 46-million dollars if the Council approves this resolution.

However several council members like Jim Gotto are not supportive of the loan increase.

“It has been nothing but a money pit. And we cannot keep on doing this, we cannot keep on doing this. It’s an unwise use of our funds.”

The committee deferred the matter until later in the month and will be holding a special meeting next week to discuss the loan. Nashville General cares for nearly all of the charity care patients in the city as well as high numbers of the uninsured. Since 2004, the city has subsidized the hospital over 256-million dollars from the general fund.