Medical doctors warn issues at South County Well being threaten affected person care. How management responded

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A gaggle of medical doctors, donors, former board members and others are elevating “systemic and administrative considerations” towards South County Well being, the dad or mum group over the 100-bed South County Hospital, that they are saying have to be addressed to forestall damaging impacts on affected person care.

In a letter shared with information shops Wednesday the signatories aired a litany of grievances towards the well being care system. Amongst them:

• “A scarcity of assist and adversarial relationship between govt management and suppliers” that led to the resignation of most hematology oncologists from the hospital’s cancer center

• The resignation of the director of radiation oncology on account of a dramatic improve in affected person quantity

• The imposition of benchmarks for affected person visits that lead to shorter go to occasions for providers reminiscent of nephrology

• Departures of major care medical doctors from South County Medical Group on account of “irreconcilable variations with administration”

• Staffing shortages of cardiology and pulmonary providers

• The elimination of the sleep lab and discount of different providers

The letter additionally criticized the administration fashion of South County Well being’s CEO Aaron Robinson, saying it has “fostered divisions fairly than collaboration” and has been “characterised by abrupt, callous and confrontational attitudes, in addition to disinterest within the well-being of practitioners, former trustees, and donors.”

The signatories are involved these points are already impacting affected person care and South County Well being’s potential to draw and retain medical doctors and hospital workers. If unresolved, they argued, the problems can even diminish South County Well being’s potential to kind partnerships with different organizations.

Hospital responds to letter

In an announcement launched by South County Well being, Joseph Matthews, South County Well being’s chairman of the board, and Aaron Robinson, CEO and president, responded to the letter.

The assertion pinned blame on skyrocketing well being care prices and low reimbursement charges within the state.

“This has systematically created an unsustainable well being care supply atmosphere, and is the direct root explanation for the challenges that every one Rhode Island well being care techniques expertise, not simply South County Well being, in recruiting and retaining suppliers, in addition to their incapacity to totally put money into infrastructure,” the assertion stated.

South County Well being additionally launched a point-by-point response to the letter – in addition to a landing page with prolonged explanations of the choices made by the well being care system’s management – addressing the signatories’ grievances.

• The resignation of oncologists, based on South County Well being, occurred after they “advocated for turning over the most cancers heart to a nationwide, for-profit oncology group.” The well being care system additionally retained one full-time oncologist and “secured” three others who will start in October.

• The director of the radiation oncology providers, who got here out of retirement to tackle the function, resigned after South County Well being “explored partnerships with organizations that might guarantee full protection over the long-term” – although it’s unclear why the director objected to this.

• Benchmarks, South County Well being defined, are business commonplace, and doubling the time of affected person visits “unnecessarily reduces entry to sufferers who want service whereas undermining the sustainability of the follow.”

• The well being care system defined two major care physicians employed by South County Medical Group left after the medical director of the follow retired, leading to expanded affected person hundreds and mounting demand for protection.

• South County Well being’s former cardiologists had been in search of higher pay, “a broader continuum of cardiovascular subspecialists” and a extra modernized medical report system. These medical doctors appear to have left South County Well being however remained working towards within the South County neighborhood via a partnership with Care New England. South County Well being additionally misplaced a pulmonary doctor who sought greater out-of-state reimbursements, whereas retaining one other.

• The sleep lab closed on account of growing older gear, which changing “considerably eclipsed operative income.” Companies have migrated away to in-home and ambulatory settings, based on South County Well being, and can be found in the neighborhood.

As for the administration of Robinson, South County Well being asserted “the Board of Trustees rejects this characterization for a management group that has been executing on Board directives.”

The well being care system requested for the “good thing about the doubt” from the neighborhood, acknowledging that “invariably there will likely be disagreements or completely different of views” when making selections.

South County Well being will maintain a reside neighborhood discussion board on YouTube on Sept. 16 the place leaders from the well being care system will reply questions. Questions can be submitted online forward of the discussion board.

This text initially appeared on The Windfall Journal: Doctors raise concerns over management of South County Health