Christian County’s relationship with Deaconess Health Systems and Jennie Stuart Health took on a deeper meaning Tuesday morning, when fiscal court and its magistrates unanimously approved Resolution 2025-13 — approving the transferred loan agreement on the Hopkinsville campus.
Before approval, however, Deaconess Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Wathen, Deaconess Chief Strategy Officer Jared Florence and Jennie Stuart Chief Financial Officer Mark Laramee answered a line of questions from Magistrate John Bruce — directed at key points of this process.
Wathen brought some clarity about a pair of Jennie Stuart Health bond issues in 2016 and 2022, where 2016 was public, and 2022 was private placement through a group of local banks.
Bruce asked if Jennie Stuart Health would “remain as an entity” under this transfer agreement, to which Wathen said “yes.”
Rather than looking at Jennie Stuart’s assets and revenue streams, Wathen said it would be better to look at all of the Deaconess profile now, especially since Deaconess has a pair of strong credit ratings, AA and A+ respectively, that will improve Jennie Stuart’s BBB-minus credit standing.
Jennie Stuart’s debt load, she added, now falls under the Deaconess umbrella.
Bruce said he has also had Jennie Stuart Health employees call him, saying they have since lost their accrued leave and sick time — all “going to zero” with no compensation when the transfer officially took place October 1.
Laramee said there have been some changes, yes, but payouts are happening.
Bruce also noted that in the transition to EPIC, the electronic health records system, the portal for people to copy their past records needs to stay open as long as possible — because some current data transfers haven’t processed yet, and naturally he doesn’t want to see decades of public health data lost.
Laramee said officials have not yet chosen a specific date to terminate older public accesses to the health records, but that providers already have access to patient records, and that most patient records have to be maintained for extended periods — even if they aren’t readily available in a public portal.
Officials gathered in Hopkinsville Monday for the merger’s public announcement.
