<\/p>\n
Ellis Medicine filed a lawsuit against St. Peter\u2019s Health Partners for violation of contract over access to a Schenectady-based cardiology practice.<\/p>\n
Tyler A. McNeil\/Times Union<\/p>\n
SCHENECTADY\u00a0\u2014 Ellis Medicine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against St. Peter\u2019s Health Partners, accusing the Catholic health system of blocking its access to a Schenectady cardiology practice.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state Supreme Court in Schenectady County, comes less than two months after the two healthcare organizations scuttled a long-planned merger<\/a>. It alleges that St. Peter\u2019s forced 27 physicians at Cardiology Associates of Schenectady to sign contracts with noncompete clauses barring them from working for Ellis for one year, in violation of previous agreements between the hospitals.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Ellis said the new contracts, if enforced, would thwart its ability to provide cardiology care and prevent the doctors from \u201cproviding services to their existing patients and to the population of Schenectady.\u201d<\/p>\n Attorneys for Ellis sharply criticized the move as an attempt by St. Peter\u2019s to \u201cdestroy\u201d competition and \u201cgain a stranglehold\u201d on healthcare in the Capital Region.<\/p>\n The lawsuit\u2019s harsh language and accusations of coercion stand in stark contrast to the united front the hospitals presented in June, when they announced in a joint statement that they had \u201cmutually agreed\u201d to end their merger talks.<\/p>\n Soon after that announcement, officials at Albany Med Health System expressed formal interest<\/a> in acquiring Ellis, raising new concerns<\/a> about hospital consolidation in a region with fewer and fewer independent healthcare practices.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n St. Peter\u2019s \u201cstrongly disagrees\u201d with the allegations and will fight the lawsuit, spokesperson Robert E. Webster, Jr. said in an email Wednesday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Webster also disputed the lawsuit\u2019s\u00a0characterization of events, noting that Ellis \u201crecently rejected a clear offer\u201d by St. Peter\u2019s that would have allowed continued cardiology services at the Schenectady hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n St. Peter\u2019s is \u201cproud of the role they played in improving the quality and financial sustainability of services at Ellis Hospital over the last several years,\u201d Webster said, adding that Ellis\u2019 assertions are \u201cfalse, and very regrettable.\u201d<\/p>\n In ending their planned merger, St. Peter\u2019s and Ellis agreed to sever agreements that had allowed them to combine and collaborate on services. Those agreements will end on Sunday.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n According to the lawsuit, St. Peter\u2019s had twice agreed in writing that Ellis would \u201cbe free to contract\u201d with physicians at Cardiology Associates if the merger did not move forward.<\/p>\n But attorneys for Ellis allege that St. Peter\u2019s violated those agreements by forcing the doctors to sign new contracts that bar them from working with other hospitals for one year. In New York and most other states, such noncompete or noncompetition agreements are legal so long as the scope of the restrictions is deemed reasonable. Courts usually determine the exact definition of reasonable restrictions, according to Cornell University\u2019s Legal Information Institute.<\/p>\n Ellis attorneys alleged that St. Peter\u2019s threatened the cardiologists with legal action to enforce the noncompete clauses in an attempt to intimidate them from working with Ellis.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Ellis is prevented from hiring the cardiologists, the effect could ultimately be to eliminate Ellis\u2019 cardiology service line, which would directly impact the operation of, among others, its emergency department and critical care and pulmonary services, gravely threatening Ellis\u2019 viability,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Representatives for Cardiology Associates did not immediately respond Wednesday to questions about the suggestion that they were threatened into signing new contracts.<\/p>\n Ellis has sought a larger regional partner for more than a decade, citing its precarious financial situation and struggle to recruit doctors. In 2020, it began discussions with St. Peter\u2019s. Some healthcare advocates protested the possible deal over concerns that the Catholic institution would impose restrictions on reproductive and end-of-life care.<\/p>\n The following year, St. Peter\u2019s acquired\u00a0Cardiology Associates of Schenectady. In addition to its 27 doctors, the practice also has more than a dozen physician assistants and serves more than 50,000 patients annually from offices in Schenectady, Amsterdam, Glenville, Gloversville and Clifton Park.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ellis Medicine filed a lawsuit against St. Peter\u2019s Health Partners for violation of contract over access to a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":996662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[35],"tags":[210,1141,1142,275397,50,384823,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-996661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-latestnews","tag-news","tag-schoco","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117084295328631129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/996662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}