Parkview Defends Itself

Tuesday Jan 02, 2007

By: Rachel Ganong
Source: The Times Record
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Page: 1

BRUNSWICK – ParkviewAdventistMedicalCenter officials called a press conference Friday to rebuff allegedly damaging claims made against the hospital during a Portland Superior Court hearing Wednesday.
 
The court denied Parkview’s request for a temporary restraining order to prevent three resigning obstetrician/gynecologists from practicing within 25 miles of Brunswick, as dictated by a clause in the doctors’ contract with hospital. Justice Thomas Delahanty II ruled that preventing the doctors from practicing would adversely affect the doctors’ patients, 64 of whom are in the third trimester of their pregnancies.
 
In the course of that hearing, an attorney for the doctors stated that Parkview had “lost” its affiliation with a hospital accrediting organization, suggesting that quality concerns at the hospital prompted the doctors to leave.
 
But Parkview officials Friday said that Parkview did not lose its Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations accreditation, but rather chose not to renew it because of changing standards with the Joint Commission and to divert resources from required accreditation paperwork to patient care.
 
That loss would not prevent the hospital from hiring new employees, hospital staff said, noting that the hospital has hired new doctors and midwives to replace those leaving and is in the process of hiring more personnel.
 
Parkview administrators also combated claims that the hospital was understaffed and ill-equipped, noting that patient-to-staff ratios were equal or above statewide ratios and that the hospital has invested $6 million during the last four years for new hospital equipment.
 
“Our OB unit is a well-equipped and well-staffed unit,” said Dr. Beverly Towne, one of the remaining OB/GYN doctors at the hospital.
 
They also addressed allegations that the hospital was financially insolvent, noting that the hospital made a $640,000 profit last year despite waiting for $1.4 million in state payments.
 
While administrators suggested that none of these reasons gave the doctors cause to break the non-competition clause in their contract, they deferred from speculating why the trio left, instead emphasizing their contention with the doctors’ decision to renew their practice, starting today, within 25 miles of Brunswick.
 
“We initiated legal action to address the broken action with the non-compete clause,” Parkview Chief Executive Officer Ted Lewis said. “We’re fully intending to pursue the suit.”
 
Amy Landry, Parkview’s public relations coordinator, clarified the basis for the hospital’s suit: “When the three doctors in question agreed to the non-compete clause they promised not to practice within 25 miles of Parkview if they chose to leave the hospital. They also agreed that if they broke that promise that they would compensate the hospital for the significant financial investment Parkview made in their practice.”
 
Landry noted that while Parkview officials are pursuing the suit, they have not decided whether to continue pursuing the injunction against the doctors’ practices.
 
After the press conference, lawyer Terrence Garmey, who is representing departing Drs. Melissa Streeter and Gregory Gimbel, noted that Parkview voided the non-compete clause by sending a notification of contract non-renewal to Gimbel. Garmey also said his clients had reason to leave the hospital.
 
“None of us knows what would have happened had JAHCO accreditors visited this year,” he said, reiterating that two medical groups have also ended their affiliation with Parkview.
 
Lewis said that one of two other medical groups that severed ties with Parkview did not cite quality concerns as reasons for leaving.

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