Summa doctors say leadership needs replacing after ER staffing shakeup

[ismnotwasm]

Nothing to do with Trump or the ACA--as far as I know--but what happened is this contracted ER Docs gave management a "no confidence vote" management retaliated by ending the contract with the Docs, and hiring a different group the the head of management's wife is the CEO of. Over the holidays and there was no transition period.

If Anybody from the area knows anything, I would appreciate input. I'm posting this for awareness purposes

At midnight on December 31st, Summa declined to renew its roughly 40-year relationship with emergency room doctors from Summa Emergency Associates (SEA), an independent physician group that's separate from the health system. The roughly 60 doctors were replaced by a group of emergency physicians paid by Canton-based US Acute Care Solutions (USACS).

Summa said the move came after contract negotiations with SEA broke down due to demands "that were unreasonable, inconsistent with national standards and would cause concerns from a compliance perspective." The affected staff worked at Summa emergency departments at Akron City Hospital and Summa facilities in Barberton, Green, Medina and Wadsworth.

Summa did not immediately reply to questions about the nature of SEA's demands, or which national standards were in question.

Doctors and other staffers with SEA said this week that they were not prepared for the decision, which came with less than two days' notice via memo from Malone. They also expressed concern about a potential conflict of interest in the decision to hire USACS, as that company's CEO, Dr. Dominic Bagnoli, is married to Summa Chief Medical Officer Dr. Vivian von Gruenigen.

Summa maintains the relationship played no role in the health system's decision to terminate SEA's contract or to hire USACS.

http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2017/01/summa_doctors_say_leadership_needs_replacing_after_er_staffing_shakeup.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. no conflict .................

[ismnotwasm]

2. While this isn't a union issue

These "Healthcare groups" tend toward union busting.

[ismnotwasm]

3. More: The Rape of Emergency Medicine, 2017 version

Summa Health, an Ohio Hospital system, recently changed ED contracts from their 40 year group to a new one. On FOUR DAYS’ NOTICE! Four days, over the Christmas/New Year’s Holiday. That sounds distinctly unsafe, beyond the gross lack of sense, or commitment to a 40 year partner.
In case you think this is going smoothly, here’s a post to the ACEP ED Informatics Section from one of their former doctors (reproduced here with permission in its entirety):
I wanted to inform you, my colleagues, about what is going on at my home institution. You all know me as a colleague and a fierce advocate of patient safety in EHRs. I have published on EHR patient safety for ACEP task forces and I am heading up a new ACEP task force on EHR patient safety issue reporting. It is with sadness that I have to tell you what is going in right now at my home institution.
Summa has gone to paper.
About 36 hours ago, our contract was taken over by US Acute Care Solutions (USACS) formerly EMP, through a scandalous process, but they literally created no plan for EHR transition. I was the director of informatics and I, along with the rest of the physicians, was notified 4 days before New Years Eve that we were out. We were told that when the ball dropped, our contract was over. The physicians coming in to take over were to arrive at the facility for the first time 1 hr before their shifts and we were to sign out to doctors that had no EHR access. No access to old records, CPOE, PACS, etc. They went the first 30 hours without access. Nurses were asked to do triage protocols and put the orders in under the new medical director, the only one with an account. This morning at 30 hrs into the process some were to start training. Now, the only information I get now is hearsay. We strongly believe the EMP/USACS has no chance of safely staffing our 5 EDs with a total of 175k volume using part-time docs who have other full time jobs. Our 55 docs and 20 PAs are sitting at home right now, scared for the patients that show up at the hospitals where their group spent the last 4 decades saving lives. As a board certified clinical informaticist, I offered my services up until midnight when our contract ended but they elected to move another direction. To the patients of Summa, I’m sorry.
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