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Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center will terminate its contract with a key Santa Fe cancer treatment group in May, with the group claiming thousands of patients could be left in limbo.
New Mexico Cancer Care Associates said a workable interim plan hasn’t been developed, but Christus St. Vincent gave assurances it has “planned for this transition.”
Cancer Care Associates officials said the issues between the two entities include the hospital’s desire to employ the clinic’s currently independent oncologists and differing views on staffing concerns at the clinic.
Two New Mexico Cancer Care Associates physicians said in an interview their primary concern is how the clinic’s patients will be served during the transition. They said their clinic receives referrals from doctors inside and outside the hospital.
“It will really put patients at risk with catastrophic consequences,” said Dr. Kat Chan, an oncologist and the president of practice at the clinic.
Chan said the clinic wants to have good-faith discussions or mediation with the hospital to develop a realistic transition plan.
Christus St. Vincent early this year announced plans to build a new cancer facility by 2024 on its campus off St. Michael’s Drive. The facility will enable the hospital to serve more patients and retain them in one location, among other things.
Dr. Scott Herbert, an oncologist with Cancer Care Associates said Christus St. Vincent has had a contract with the group since 2012, adding the clinic also sees cancer patients at Los Alamos Medical Center.
The clinic’s doctors said their institution recently declined Christus St. Vincent’s offer to absorb its oncologists into the hospital as employees, adding the hospital said it would terminate the group’s contract on May 27. Chan and Herbert said the hospital has recruited one of the group’s oncologists and a nurse practitioner.
In a statement, Christus St. Vincent said Cancer Care Associates “let us know months ago of their decision to move away from their exclusive relationship with the hospital, and we have honored their decision.”
“Therefore, we have initiated steps to engage in a patient-focused transition plan; however, they [Cancer Care Associates leaders] have not been open to those discussions,” the statement continued. “A cancer diagnosis can be devastating news for a patient and their family. Christus St. Vincent remains vigilant in our care and would never jeopardize our patients or their families.”
Chan, Herbert and a clinic news release said Christus also has expressed concern about staffing levels at Cancer Care Associates.
The representatives of the clinic, 490 W. Zia Road, said they hope to participate in mediation with Christus St. Vincent, but if nothing can be worked out, Chan said the clinic expects to go to court to stop early termination of the contract. She said the contract was expected to run through late December.
A March 28 letter from Christus St. Vincent to a clinic attorney in Boston, however, said the hospital “believes that mediation is the ideal forum to address these matters, including developing a cooperative transition plan that protects patient care and allows both NMCCA and the Hospital to pursue their respective interests going forward.”
That letter, provided by the clinic, said the clinic breached its contract and couldn’t solve issues of concern. It said clinic representatives seemed “focused on working toward a separate future under a successor entity, Nexus Health.”
Herbert said the clinic has “been preparing for the future all along. We just don’t want to put anybody at risk in the interim while we prepare for the future.”
Christus St. Vincent, which didn’t make officials available for an interview, said in a statement: “Part of this plan does involve some transitional steps, such as a change in our relationship with NMCCA. However, we have planned for this transition and remain committed to providing the highest level of care that our patients have come to expect and deserve.”
Herbert said the partnership has worked well for more than a decade and “staffing has never, ever been raised as a concern with our practice” until recently.
Chan said the clinic has five oncologists and two nurse practitioners in Santa Fe. A part-time physician covers Los Alamos for the clinic, Herbert said.
The independent group said if it loses its contract with the hospital, it cannot continue to see patients until it is able to negotiate new agreements with insurers, which could take several months.
She and Herbert said the clinic is still able to accommodate all of its patients promptly. The clinic over the years has had five to seven oncologists, Chan said. Staffing is sufficient, wait times remain the same, treatments are on schedule and the clinic also has hired another oncologist who will start in the summer, they said.
“The patients shouldn’t be put in the middle of this,” Chan said, adding she wants Christus St. Vincent to “come to reason” and work out a good plan.
Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Teya Vitu contributed to this story.
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After I had radiation seeds implanted, St. Vicious fired my doctor. I went to his replacement for followup. I met with him once and he was totally unprepared. When I came back for a final followup, I was no longer in the computer!!!!!
When I have requested copies of my care they were so fuzzy they could not be read………this happened three times. It was no accident!!!
Let’s strip this down to its bare factual elements.
– NMCCA has provided documented exceptional care to cancer patients for 10 years.
– NMCCA didn’t break any aspect of their existing contact with CStV nor disrupt its history of outstanding patient care. NMCCA simply determined there was a path to better patient care that required that they not renew their relationship/contract with CStV.
– CStV then suddenly determines, after 10 years, that patients will be better served if they terminate their contract with NMCCA 6 months early; without any detailed framework (other than ‘initiated steps’ for managing the transition) for how address the critical disruption this will cause to cancer patient care.
– NMCCA only goal is to continue caring for patients and under its current contract with CStV UNTIL it can provide what it believes to be BETTER care options and services outside of its relationship with CStV.
If those are the objective, undisputable facts facts; I ask anyone reviewing the situation which sounds more likely:
That CStV is “committed to providing the highest level of care that our patients have come to expect and deserve”
OR
CStV knows it can manipulate a legal system and leverage insurance provider and other medical care complexities to strong arm a business and financial outcome purely based in maximizing profits and retaining power – at incredible risk to patient care while also causing immense emotional, physical and psychological pain to people already suffering under devastating circumstances.
I guess no one realizes that patients are sent from Albuquerque to see doctors at NMCC. I am one of Dr. Kathryn Chan’s patients. NMCC is one of the finest cancer centers around. Christus St Vincent has run off 2 of the doctors I have seen in the 11 years I’ve lived here. Christus even changed their doctor’s health insurance for a poorer plan. So much for taking care of their “employees”. It’s just a real shame that Christus doesn’t realize what an asset they have with their relationship with NMCC. Unfortunately, I see a mass exodus to Albuquerque for treatment. I for one will be one of them if Dr. Chan leaves. I’m just glad I’m not in need of critical care. What a real shame.
GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE. THATS St Vincent’s sole aim. Search online for their history. Is St. Vincent’s Hospital have any moral or ethical or monitary relationship with the Catholuc church? In the name of religion – does it mean anything to Catholics ?
This is happening all over the country in medicine. Physicians are forced into an employment model by large hospital systems. It is distressing that a “not for profit” faith based hospital system would be placing patient care in jeopardy.
While I do not know of the details, I commend and support the NMCC group for upholding their values and coimmitment for patient care. While hopefully there is a resolution to this to avoid interruption of care, the anxiety and anguish for oncology patients and their families has already begun. This article alone likely has added unimaginable stress to the patients of NMCC.
As a medical oncologist who has been in practice 30 years( disclamimer: I amnot affiliated with any of the parties involved), I can attest that the relationship of oncology patients with their providers and care team is like no other in medicine.
Perhaps Christus Healthcare may wish to go back to their misson statement on their website.
“Service in a spirit of empathy, love and concern.
Wise and just use of talents and resources in a collaborative manner.”
St Vincent’s has earned the nickname of St Victim from their long history of bad relationships with several walkouts and bad faith contract negotiations. Their history of placing growth & forcing bad working conditions on medical personnel goes way back and has been in the news for decades. Another rotten example of using religion badly.
While I was undergoing cancer treatments at CStV cancer center in the first quarter of 2011, CStV did exactly the same thing to me: ended their contract with the cancer center care provider (if I remember correctly the contract was with UNM). Just as I started radiation, my entire oncology care team could no longer provide care to me.
Looks like CStV is still at it. What is a matter with them? CStV didn’t give me any advance notice that this was going to happen. I arrived to see my team for a regular visit and team members informed me that their contract was not being renewed and from that moment forward, only a “radiation doctor” would be providing all of my care.
Way to go CStV. So much for patient centered care.
This decision has nothing whatsoever to do with patient care. It is all about finances. If CSV is going to build a new cancer center on campus opening 2024, but end its contract with NMCC May 27, they are purposefully putting patients at risk.
The staff and services at NMCC are excellent, and the facility is only a 5 minute drive to the hospital. It appears to me that CSV wants a corporate monopoly and that NMCC is resisting being bought. We need them.
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