ER management group loses contract after 30 years

GREELEY – A group of emergency room doctors that provided emergency care services at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley for almost 31 years is looking for new employment following the cancellation of their contract.

Since 1980, North Colorado Emergency Physicians P.C. has been providing emergency care in NCMC’s emergency department, growing from five personnel to 26 as the region and demands on the department grew.

But in February, NCMC notified the ER group and announced to NCMC’s medical staff that NCEP’s contract would not be renewed because NCMC had contracted with TeamHealth, a Tennessee-based, for-profit management group.

NCEP’s contract officially ended May 22.

John Hurst was one of NCEP’s founding physicians, and he lamented the end of an era in a letter sent to the Greeley Tribune, saying the cancellation of the service contract was “unconscionably callous.”

“After hearing the presentation of the new for-profit administrators, most of the current ER physicians and almost all of the physician assistants are choosing to leave NCMC,” Hurst said. “The consensus is that the new management does not represent a change for the better and that our treatment from Banner administrators at NCMC has created a climate of distrust.”

Of the 26 personnel in NCEP, eight have agreed to stay on under TeamHealth.

Hurst was out of town and not available for comment, but Frank Purdie, another one of the NCEP original partners, said he, too, was disappointed with how the transition was handled.

“We came here on July 1, 1980, and we’ve been faithful servants to the people of Greeley and I really don’t think we deserved what happened,” Purdie said.

NCMC is operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, which also owns McKee Medical Center in Loveland.

NCMC CEO Rick Sutton sent a letter to the hospital’s medical staff in February that said TeamHealth would be replacing NCEP in the emergency room. In the letter, Sutton did not detail why the changeover was taking place after 30 years.

“At this time, we feel that the expertise and resources of a nationally experienced group will be beneficial in managing the physician component in our ER,” Sutton wrote. “We’re very grateful to the individual members of North Colorado Emergency Physicians for their dedication to our community and we’re confident that many, if not most, of the physicians in our ER will remain at NCMC as a part of TeamHealth.”

Purdie said one reason many of the former NCEP physicians were not staying was because to do so would have resulted in a substantial pay cut.

“My understanding was the initial pay cut was 40 percent with an incentive clause where you could earn half of that back,” he said. “So you could work harder and still not make what you were making.”

Bill Byron, Banner spokesman, said in an emailed response to questions that the changeover was not related to performance, cost savings or NCEP staffing levels.

Byron said the decision to change “was made with respect to leadership that would be more closely aligned with Banner’s direction in the future,” without elaborating.

Byron said McKee Medical Center’s ER is being managed by Big Thompson Emergency Physicians and added, “I am not aware of any plans with respect to a change in that organization.”

Purdie said he was definitely not going to be part of TeamHealth.

Purdie, 62, said he was hoping to finish his career at NCMC but now is applying for a new position in a tight market. He said the contract cancellation blindsided the group.

“The 26 people who were there were time-tested, proven and compatible,” Purdie said. “You just can’t replace a team like that, and that gave us confidence that we’d continue.”

Purdie noted that NCEP was given a one-year contract extension last fall but said there was “not a hint” that NCMC was looking to replace them.

“If it wasn’t something we could correct, then it strikes me it was just part of a corporate plan” he said.

Jim Campain, another NCEP ER physician who lost his job, said the group was performing well as measured by HealthGrades, a neutral group that rates doctors, hospitals and practices. He said NCEP was one of four ER management groups in Colorado to win HealthGrades’ Emergency Medicine Excellence Award in 2010.

Campain said the contract cancellation was “shocking.”

“There really was no warning,” he said. “I met with Rick Sutton every month and there was no talk of our group being replaced or restructured.”

Campain said a patient survey showed some dissatisfaction with NCMC’s ER regarding waiting times but not about the care patients received.

But Campain said the NCEP physicians did respond to the survey as best they could.

“One thing I came away with is the hospital couldn’t back up a claim we were bad doctors because there’s absolutely no evidence of that.”

Steve Porter covers health care for the Northern Colorado Business Report. He can be reached at 970-232-3147 or at sporter@ncbr.com.

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