I-Team: Ohio Attorney General examines UTMC

A major development in the heated, ongoing discussion about the sale of the University of Toledo Medical Center. The 13abc I-Team has now learned the Ohio Attorney General's office is looking into the matter.

The I-Team is not being told the extent to which the Attorney General is examining the matter. But this comes just a few days after a state lawmaker called into question a deal between the University and ProMedica from 2015.

The University is trying to sell the hospital or find a partnership. That's in part because of a multi- million dollar deficit at UTMC. Some critics, which include state Senator Teresa Fedor, believe those issues stem from the 2015 academic affiliation agreement between the UT medical school and ProMedica.

It did not include the hospital but some services and some students were moved to places like Toledo Hospital. Senator Fedor asked this week if this deal was more than a simple affiliation.

“There are growing concerns that this agreement positioned ProMedica, a private hospital, for what it seems like a hostile takeover of UTMC, said Fedor at a Tuesday news conference:

The governor's office would have to sign off on the hospital sale since it is part of a state university.

Fedor is asking Governor Mike DeWine to halt any sale. Then Attorney General DeWine's office signed off on the academic affiliation in the first place. That sign off said any future Attorney General could step in if anti-competitive issues arose.

Bids for purchase or a potential partnership are due on June 10th.

The Attorney General's office would not give the I-Team any further information into what exactly they're looking into or the scope of that work.

Is it just involving the hospital sale? Is it involving the affiliation agreement between the med school and ProMedica? We are just not being told at this time.