Politics, power struggles a part of divestiture battle for university hospitals.

For hospitals, cutting legal and financial ties with a state or university is no easy thing to do. Just ask Dennis Brimhall, president of the University of Colorado Hospital, Denver. Converting his public hospital to a private not-for-profit corporation took more than two years of planning and four months of intensive lobbying. However, Brimhall and other executives who have fought similar battles say that the hard-won competitive advantage was worth the fight.