Carilion Health System is poised to take over operation of Wythe County Community Hospital. But a lawsuit filed in Roanoke federal court has this message - Not so fast.

The suit and the dispute it outlines are about whether Carilion has followed the rules that would allow it to run the hospital under a 30-year lease agreement.

Carilion, the region's largest employer, once owned a 40 percent interest in the Wythe County hospital, but sold that stake about a year ago. In parting with the hospital at the time, however, Carilion reserved the right to trump any deal Wythe County Community Hospital might strike with another company.

That soon happened.

In November, Tennessee-based LifePoint Hospitals reached a deal to buy the Wythe County hospital for about $56 million, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

Carilion stepped in, exercising its "right of first refusal." Instead of closing the deal with LifePoint, Wythe County Community Hospital announced a $56 million agreement with Carilion that would have Carilion operate the hospital as its own.

Under the proposed deal, Carilion would supply $40 million to establish a community foundation for health, welfare and education initiatives in Wythe and Bland counties and spend an estimated $15 million within eight years to upgrade the hospital.

In the lawsuit, filed earlier this week, LifePoint asks the court to block Carilion from taking over hospital operations and requests some undetermined amount of money for what it says are damages, lost profits and court-related costs.

Still, LifePoint's main goal is to be able to buy Wythe County Community Hospital, a 104-bed nonprofit facility that had a surplus of $1.4 million in its last full fiscal year.

LifePoint will drop any request for damages if the court reinstates its contract to buy the hospital over Carilion's, according to the lawsuit. LifePoint has requested a hearing by March 31. Carilion said its plan has been to close a deal with the Wythe County hospital on Feb. 25.

LifePoint declined to comment on the litigation.

LifePoint bases much of its lawsuit on the issue of whether Carilion is living up to the language of its "right of refusal" agreement. The suit claims Carilion is required to agree to the same terms spelled out in the LifePoint agreement with Wythe County Community Hospital.

The main sticking point: whether Carilion broke the rules by saying it does not intend to install a new information system like the system LifePoint promised.

LifePoint claims that would void Carilion's right of refusal. Carilion said it plans to upgrade the technology, but adds it makes no sense to install a system other than one that would mesh with Carilion's technology.

"We don't think it's brand-specific," said Carilion spokesman Eric Earnhart. "We can provide the functionality that hospital needs with our computer system."