Methodist delays surgeries after breakup with anesthesia provider
UPDATE: Ray Wilson, President of the Medical Anesthesia Group, released an additional statement saying,
“I have been a part of Medical Anesthesia Group for 37 years of its 52-year history. Our first priority is and has always been patient care. Our outstanding service, leadership, reputation, and quality of care is well regarded among the Memphis Medical community. Even though MAG is moving on from Methodist, we will still be a major presence in the Memphis area and continue to serve our community with the same care and dedication we always have.”
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Some patients say surgeries have been canceled or delayed this week at Methodist’s adult hospitals because of a breakup with their longtime anesthesia provider.
WREG had a chance to talk one-on-one with Dr. Wayne Lipson, the chief medical officer for Methodist, about whether those disruptions jeopardize patient care.
“Absolutely not. Our mission has always been the care and the provision of high-quality safe care. There is no patient that will be put into jeopardy. We have 100 percent emergency coverage as an example,” said Lipson.
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After five decades, Medical Anesthesia Group stopped operations at five Methodist hospitals on Friday, February 9, after contract negotiations between MAG and Methodist fell apart.
Dr. Lipson says MAG was not able to provide services due to “turmoil” or loss of providers, causing Methodist to go in a different direction.
They will now be working with New York-based Somnia Anesthesia.
“In the pipeline they’ve (Somnia) been building, they have over 125 physicians, CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetists), and as we begin to ramp up we will see those disruptions continue to decrease substantially,” said Lipson.
Still, the word of disruptions has caused some concern.
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A Memphis family practice physician who does not work at Methodist but has a sister awaiting surgery there emailed WREG.
The doctor who wants to remain anonymous says, “It is making it impossible to schedule surgeries at Methodist and possibly jeopardizing the health of their patients. My sister has been waiting for weeks to have her renal cell cancer removed. I wonder how many other patients have been waiting unnecessarily to have surgery.”
Dr. Lipson says Methodist’s mission and commitment to patient care has not changed.
“We are not closing down our emergency department or our operating rooms, and that is our mission, and that will continue as Methodist has continued,” said Lipson.
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare released a lengthy statement Friday evening.
It is unfortunate that Medical Anesthesia Group (MAG) has resorted to a mischaracterization of the facts and engaged in a misinformation campaign to sully a 50-year partnership as our exclusive provider, that only ended because they could no longer meet their contractual obligation to provide anesthesia services to our patients.
We strive every day to provide the best possible care for our patients and we take that responsibility very seriously. When a provider can no longer fulfill their obligation, we must find other options. The decision to move forward with a new partner is one we take very seriously and always with the wellbeing of our patients at the forefront.
Last summer, MAG alerted us that due to financial challenges and the loss of 14 of their 31 staff members, they were unable to provide full anesthesia coverage for our system. They suggested we employ contract anesthesiologists (locums) to meet patient needs, at our expense, as they could not afford the cost, even though contractually obligated to do so. To maintain the quality of patient care, we hired temporary staff while attempting to save the partnership.
To save their practice and our relationship, we offered a potential solution of adopting a “friendly PC” model, where MAG would be able to concentrate on clinical care exclusively and someone else would handle business operations since their practice was failing. In this model, anesthesiologists would be paid at fair market value and make the same rate of those contracted with our new partner. This plan was rejected, in their hope to remain completely independent, but without a viable plan to stabilize their failing practice. This left MLH no choice but to find another provider to ensure adequate anesthesia coverage for our patients. In the months leading up to the contract ending on Feb. 8, MAG continued to struggle, leading to some elective surgeries being re-scheduled and consolidation of other services.
Effective February 9, we moved to a new partner. Somnia is a nationally renowned, independently owned and physician-led anesthesia group and the first anesthesia-only company to be named a patient safety organization by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Somnia has a proven track record of growing strong anesthesia programs and robust pipelines in regions across the country, including building residency programs.
Somnia is on-board and working to ensure full anesthesia coverage at our facilities, something that was a persistent challenge during the last few months of the MAG partnership.
Tennessee state law precludes hospitals from employing anesthesiologists, so health systems must contract with third party providers like MAG and Somnia to provide coverage.
We are incredibly grateful for MAG’s years of service and dedication to MLH and are thankful to our medical staff members and patients that we are fortunate to serve. As this partnership ends, our focus remains on providing the best and highest quality care to every patient across the Mid-South. We wish MAG well and will continue to focus on solutions that benefit our community or our patients.
The Medical Anesthesia Group released a statement Sunday evening.
“Many meetings, emails, and calls between MLH and MAG took place going back to March 2023 to address outdated contracts, increasing labor costs, operating room inefficiencies, and decreasing provider satisfaction. MAG communicated that without updates to the current contracts, many providers would leave the group. What followed was months of growing provider dissatisfaction and turnover, and ultimately an impasse between MLH and MAG on the best path forward.”
They also mentioned that the impact of the events on patients and families has been “deeply concerning to every current and former MAG physician, CRNA, RN, administrator, and staff member.”
MAG’s entire statement is attached below.
Official-MAG-StatementDownload
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