PeaceHealth’s plan to transition its emergency department staffing hit a potential snag Monday after a federal judge said ApolloMD officials were dishonest under oath.
It happened at the end of a fourth day of hearings for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by Eugene Emergency Physicians against PeaceHealth, ApolloMD, ApolloMD Business Services and Lane Emergency Physicians or LEP, over planned emergency medicine staffing changes.
U.S. District Court Judge Mustafa Kasubhai said two witnesses in the case, ApolloMD CEO Dr. Yogin Patel and Lane Emergency Physicians owner, Dr. Johne Chapman, were “being dishonest with the court.”
As reported by The Register-Guard, Dr. Kim Ruscher, chief medical officer for PeaceHealth Oregon, testified Monday on the request-for-proposal or RFP process for the emergency medicine contract. On the stand, Ruscher recalled ApolloMD’s application for the emergency staffing contract because it has a “playbook” to work from.
Later, Kasubhai addressed the ApolloMD “playbook” saying it was a telling piece of information about who is in control of the doctors who are staffing local emergency departments.
He said if it is Apollo’s “playbook” that the court is dealing with–then Apollo is acting as the coach or director in this scenario. The judge said it appeared that Apollo did not set up LEP to manage services, but as a liability control mechanism for ApolloMD and PeaceHealth.
The judge questioned the legality of PeaceHealth’s deal with Atlanta-based ApolloMD, which was set to replace emergency department staffing at Cottage Grove and Florence on June 1 and RiverBend in Springfield on July 1.
Earlier testimony revealed ApolloMD and LEP have no written contracts. This, the judge noted, has allowed ApolloMD to conceal its control over the physicians’ group that it created.
Kasubhai said the arrangement amounted to “a handshake and a wink,” which he said does not meet legal requirements under Oregon’s new corporate medicine law.
The court is scheduled to reconvene Wednesday in Portland.
Hoyle, Wyden, Merkley express concern about PeaceHealth staff changes
Meanwhile, several members of Oregon’s congressional delegation on Tuesday called on PeaceHealth to be more transparent about its decision to end its contract with a local physicians group and choose an out-of-state staffing firm to run its emergency departments in Lane County.
In a letter to the President and CEO of PeaceHealth, U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, and 4th District Rep. Val Hoyle, expressed concerns about what they called a lack of transparency in the process. They said the emergency departments are critical to the region and said this approach may negatively affect patient care.
They asked PeaceHealth to work with physicians, staff and the community to develop a plan for staffing its ERs which ensures continuity of care and, quote “maintains the integrity and reliability of emergency services across Lane County.”
KLCC's Rachael McDonald contributed to this story.
