Mercy Iowa City’s retired employees face uncertainty as the hospital transitions into the University of Iowa Health Care system.
The former Mercy Hospital officially became the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center Downtown on Jan. 31. The university won rights to the 150-year-old hospital and its assets in a bankruptcy auction in November.
Court filings indicate that Mercy Hospital’s five pension fund accounts held $119.5 million as of July 31, 2023.
The bankruptcy court appointed an official committee “to represent the interests of pensioners” in Mercy’s auction. The committee has since appointed legal counsel and a financial advisor.
Seven Mercy pensioners founded the committee, giving members the ability “to hire counsel to protect their interests, to assist others similarly situated in filing claims in this case, and to communicate information about the filings and hearings in this case,” according to documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Iowa.