Plan could keep public in dark about most of UMC's deals

Under a proposal that county commissioners could vote on Wednesday, previously available hospital records could become exempt from the state's public records law. Contracts with doctors and companies, the names of hospital employees - nearly everything outside the hospital's annual financial report - could be private. The same goes for hospital board meetings. Only one meeting a year, "to report on the affairs of the corporation," could be public. But if any part of that meeting delves into competitive data or a subject that could cause a competitive disadvantage to the hospital, then it could be closed off to the public. That would be a dramatic shift for the taxpayer-subsidized hospital, and it has some people nervous.