Trinity Health Of NE officially outsources management of emergency dept. physicians

Photo | Joseph Driscoll Trinity Health Of New England's sign outside the Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center Gengras Medical Office Building at the corner of Asylum Avenue and Woodland Street in Hartford.

Write a Comment

By David Krechevsky

Trinity Health Of New England (THONE) made it official Wednesday, formally announcing its partnership with California-based Vituity to manage its emergency and hospital medicine services for its three Connecticut hospitals.

The announcement, though, brought an angry response from Sen. Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor), co-chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee, who said the way the partnership was handled was “highly, highly unprofessional.”

The partnership, which officially began April 7, includes Vituity, the nation’s largest physician-owned and operated medical group, running the emergency departments at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury and Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford.

“This collaboration strengthens our commitment to improving access and delivering high-quality, patient-centered care while ensuring the long-term sustainability of these essential services,” the health system said in a news release.

Word of the partnership with Vituity first became public in January, when Anwar raised concerns about it.

Anwar, who is also a doctor specializing in lung diseases and critical care medicine and chairs the Department of Internal Medicine for Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals, said at the time that he was “alarmed” by a message THONE sent to emergency department physicians and hospitalists at its three acute-care hospitals in the state.

“Trinity Health recently sent a message to more than 100 emergency room physicians and hospitalist physicians, informing them of a 90-day notice for them to shift their employment to a California-based company under risk of otherwise losing their jobs,” Anwar’s release stated, adding the notice could affect “physician availability amid an already-stressed environment for medical staffing” in the state.

Thursday, Anwar said he has “multiple levels of concern” about the collaboration between THONE and Vituity in Connecticut.

His concerns include “how this transpired, which was highly, highly unprofessional,” he said. “For the highly trained and some of the finest physicians in the community … to be informed via email in the early morning that you no longer have a job unless you join this company, this is not how professional and ethical entities do business.”

He continued, “And if they do, then they need to be taught that this is not the way to do it, and they would have to literally educate or fire the individuals who act in this manner.”

Anwar said he has determined that at least 30 physicians and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are leaving the health system and not joining Vituity.

In THONE’s new release issued Wednesday about the partnership, it states that nearly 180 providers in its health system will be employed by Vituity, including “147 providers transitioning from (THONE) to Vituity (53 hospitalists and 94 emergency medicine providers) and 30+ experienced Vituity providers joining the team.”

A spokesperson for THONE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Anwar’s statements.

In its news release about its partnership with Vituity, THONE said the two organizations “have ensured a seamless transition by fully staffing all locations with skilled, compassionate providers while retaining the majority of the physicians who have long served the community.”

Dr. Jennifer Martin, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at St. Francis Hospital, praised the collaboration.

“Partnering with Vituity allows us to enhance patient care, support our providers, and ensure our emergency departments and inpatient units remain a trusted and reliable resource for our community, now and into the future,” Martin said.

Based in Emeryville, California, Vituity employs more than 7,000 doctors and clinicians who care for over 11 million patients annually across more than 600 practice locations nationwide.