February 19, 2010 -- The Regional Medical Center at Memphis future grew more tenuous this week as Gov. Phil Bredesen and the Memphis political community staked out differing political stances.

However, Bredesen and Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. began discussing the future of the county-owned and -funded hospital  even as Bredesen appeared to dismiss efforts by interim Shelby County Mayor Joe Ford to get emergency state funding.

The issue is also spilling over into the races on the May and August election ballots: Ford has pinned his campaign for a full four-year term on the short-term survival of The MED.

I think when its all said and done, the state of Tennessee, the governor, we all will be on the same page and we will save The MED, Ford told The Daily News after he filed this week.

But his Democratic primary rival, Shelby County Commissioner Deidre Malone, has attended the meetings of the Ford-appointed ad hoc group on the hospitals future.

Malone, chairwoman of the commissions hospital committee, has watched as Ford has expressed frustration and talked in general and sometimes shifting terms of what specifically is needed for the hospital to make it through the rest of the current fiscal year. At times she has pressed for details of Fords vague plans.

Like other candidates, County Commissioner Mike Carpenter said the future of The MED is a looming campaign issue. He also took a jab at Ford, who has repeatedly said he inherited the problems at The MED when he took office in December as interim mayor.

For anyone who tells you they inherited this problem  this is not new, Carpenter said. This has been going on for a lot of years. We have to take responsibility for it in government. And we have to figure out what is the right solution.

Republican candidate for mayor, Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell, said he believes the hospital will remain open at least long enough for whoever wins the August general election to take office as mayor in September. That is despite varying timelines from Ford and MED officials.

All the indications are that things are coming together to at least have a patchwork solution, short term, Luttrell told The Daily News. Weve got to be very diligent in trying to pursue some procedure for getting beyond just patchwork.

Survival depends on fair share
Luttrell used the term fair share in describing what should be done to put The MED on sound financial footing. But he also cited The MEDs considerable history of money problems.

I think The MED is always subject to looking for better ways to do what they do, Luttrell said. Weve got to make it work, whatever that takes. & The MED has had financial problems for 20 to 30 years.

There have been some great minds that have addressed it. Im hoping some fresh faces on the scene in Nashville and here in Shelby County can bring a different dialogue, certainly a different tenor to that dialogue.

Earlier this month, the commission passed a resolution sponsored by Republican Commissioner George Flinn, who is running for the GOP nomination in the 8th Congressional District.

Flinn wants every gubernatorial candidate to pledge to restore full funding to The MED from the federal government based on the amount of uncompensated care the hospital has in a year. That would boost the federal funding from about $30 million to $80 million. The resolution passed on a 9-0 vote with a lot of skepticism.

I dont think it holds water at all, Commissioner J.W. Gibson said.

That is a sad state of affairs in politics if someones word doesnt mean anything, Flinn replied.

Nevertheless, candidates for governor are talking about The MED if not under Flinns strict ground rules.

It is a major safety net hospital, Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons, part of the Republican field for governor, told The Daily News after a Tuesday book-signing event at Davis Kidd Booksellers in East Memphis. We need to take that seriously. Im not sure state government understands the role that The MED serves. & That concerns me.

MEDs closure will ripple
During a tour of The MED earlier in the day, MED officials discussed a possible request from state officials to federal health officials to provide a two-to-one match on the $10 million in emergency funding already appropriated by the Shelby County Commission.

Meanwhile, Gibbons said a closing of The MED could have a domino effect.

The MED is critical to the operation of the (University of Tennessee Health Science Center)  our medical school, Gibbons said. Almost every doctor at The MED is also on the faculty of the University of Tennessee. & If it goes out of existence, Im not sure what the future of the medical school will be.

Chattanooga Congressman Zach Wamp, also a Republican contender for governor, said he is willing to take Flinns pledge.

Wamp put more emphasis on uncompensated care The MED provides to patients from Arkansas and Mississippi. Recapturing the money lost on that care from the two states is something local leaders have de-emphasized during the current funding crisis.

This is not just go to the governor and say, Fund The MED, Wamp said. The money is being lost to the other states.

State Senate Democratic leader Jim Kyle, the other Memphian running for governor, however, said the real difference is in the coming Tennessee Hospital Association proposal for a bed tax to make up for two consecutive fiscal years of TennCare cuts.

Without the bed tax, Kyle said The MED might not survive anyway.

Asked about the bed tax, Wamp said it and the short-term future of The MED is something that should be resolved before the next governor takes office in January.

They have to address that now. I appreciate the Tennessee Hospital Association for offering a solution which gives them an option, Wamp said.

If theres an agreement on it, the Legislature needs to pass it. That may be satisfactory.