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TRUSTEES APPROVE RESOLUTION TO PURSUE PARK PURCHASE

   COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees approved a resolution Friday (3/5) that allows University Hospitals to continue negotiations to purchase Park Medical Center on the near East Side.

   The resolution allows Ohio State hospital officials to pursue the purchase of Park "based on an appropriate price and resolution of related issues," said R. Reed Fraley, executive director of University Hospitals.

   University officials will not discuss a possible purchase price while negotiations continue with Park owner Quorum Health Group of Brentwood, Tenn. Fraley said negotiations are expected to be complete by March 31.

   The 19-member University Hospitals Board unanimously voted last week to support the purchase of Park -- pending resolution of some issues, Fraley said. Ohio State officials broke off negotiations with Quorum in the fall before resuming talks in December. Quorum has said it wants to sell Park to a local buyer.

   Park, a 404-bed, 375,000-square-foot complex in three buildings at 1492 E. Broad St., has been for sale since last summer. Quorum Health Group purchased Park -- then Saint Anthony Medical Center -- in 1991 from the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, who founded the hospital in 1890.

   Making presentations to the trustees Friday on the possible purchase of Park were Fraley; Manuel Tzagournis, vice president for health sciences; and Grayce Sills, chair of the University Hospitals Board.

Contact: David Crawford, Medical Center Communications, (614) 293-3737