BATON ROUGE - Gov. John Bel Edwards is moving to oust the operator of LSU's hospitals in Shreveport and Monroe, after it refused renegotiated contract terms sought by the governor.

Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne sent a letter to the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana notifying the hospital manager the state will seek to end the contract.

The governor's office released the letter Thursday. Edwards spokesman Richard Carbo says the two sides have 45 days to continue conversations under the contract, once the state seeks the hospital manager's ouster.

The research foundation, known as BRF, hasn't signed paperwork pushed by the administration to tweak the terms of the privatization deal.

Meanwhile, the relationship between BRF and LSU leadership has continued to deteriorate, with the two sides trading accusations of financial mismanagement.