Kosair name coming down in 6 months

Within six months, the name “Kosair” will disappear from Norton Healthcare’s Kosair Children’s Hospital and medical practices that also bear the Kosair name.

Kosair Charities and Norton announced Thursday that they have formally settled their disputes on terms that allow each organization to “focus on its respective mission.”

The Courier-Journal reported July 26 that the two sides had reached a preliminary deal settling fiercely fought litigation between the charity and the hospital company.

In a news release, the two parties, without disclosing the terms, said that Kosair’s annual contributions for the children’s hospital – currently being held in escrow in Jefferson Circuit Court – will be transferred to a separate endowment that will continue to fund 100 percent of the cost of charity care for indigent families at the children’s hospital until the endowment is exhausted.

Kosair Charities also has agreed to a one-time financial contribution that will be matched by Norton Healthcare, which will be used to help fund the cost of new or enhanced facilities or equipment at the children’s hospital.

In the release, Norton CEO Stephen A. Williams said: “We believe this resolution will prove beneficial to communities and children we serve. Both organizations remain committed to meeting children’s health care needs. The time has come for us to pursue that focus independently. We thank Kosair Charities and its members for their prior support and dedication to the commonwealth’s children.”

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Kosair Charities board chairman Jerry Ward was quoted saying the agreement will allow it to "continue to serve our longstanding mission of ensuring that all children in this community, regardless of their family’s ability to pay, receive the medical care they need.”

Sources familiar with the deal told the CJ in July that Kosair will pay Norton only a fraction of the $117 million Kosair had pledged to give Norton over 20 years.

In a suit filed in 2014, Kosair Charities, which had been giving more than $6 million annually to the hospital, alleged that parent company Norton Healthcare had misused some of it to enhance its bottom line and "line the pockets" of its executives.

The charity also claimed Norton refused to provide an accounting of how Kosair's donations are spent.

But in a counterclaim, Norton charged that Kosair was committing fraud on the Louisville community by suggesting to donors that it is supporting Norton's Kosair Children's Hospital when it is has stopped doing so.

Norton alleged Kosair had stopped making contractually required contributions two years earlier and was $11.5 million behind – but was still telling the public that it was supporting the hospital to solicit more donations.

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189.