At least eight other medical staffing firms, including Vituity, U.S. Acute Care Solutions and TeamHealth, jumped into the void created by APP’s liquidation to take on hospital emergency department contracts.
“It’s a shame to read about what is happening to American Physician Partners,” Rep. Mark Green (D-TN), MD, told ACEP Now in a prepared statement. Rep. Green founded the ED staffing company Align MD and later sold it to APP. “I am proud of my time leading Align MD, where we had one of the lowest turnover rates in the industry because of how we treated our providers.”
Impact on ER Doctors
Nathan Whelham, MD, an attending physician working in the emergency departments of Ascension Borgess hospitals in Kalamazoo, Plainwell, and Dowagiac, Mich., told ACEP Now in an August 8 email that he still does not know if he will get paid for the work he performed in July, although at least he knows who is managing the EDs he and his colleagues are responsible for covering.
“Vituity, our new physicians group, said that it would provide us with a two-year loan to cover the lost wages as well as to pay for our tail coverage,” he said. “We have heard absolutely nothing about that from APP, and our site directors have no idea as to what APP will pay in terms of payroll.”
Dr. Whelham emphasized that in the two weeks following APP’s July 17 announcement, “when we were working and doubtful as to being paid or covered in terms of legal protection, both the emergency physicians and advanced practice providers came to work and provided excellent care. We did not shrink back from our calling to serve our communities and those in need.”
Dr. Bombard estimated that he worked 20 shifts in July and was owed more than $50,000 through incentives to work additional hours. “We were all relieved to find out that we would be paid on August 15, but without much warning or update (by APP),” he said. “If APP intended to pay us all along for July, it could have saved a lot of ‘what ifs’ and sleepless nights.”
Dr. Bombard said that when he first heard he might not have tail coverage for the period leading up to July 31, “of course you start thinking about those cases where you may have questioned yourself. It certainly made me practice a little more conservatively in early August,” he said. “When people are hurting like this, when they don’t know if they’re going to get paid or their insurance is not going to be covered, they have a lot of fear.”
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