Lawmakers joined health care workers at four Connecticut hospitals owned by Trinity Health of New England in Hartford Thursday, urging the not-for-profit health system to reverse a staffing decision they said would adversely affect hospital employees and patients.
“We don't have enough nurses, we don't have enough physician assistants, we don't have enough physicians, we don't have enough specialists,” State Sen. Dr. Saud Anwar, Democratic co-chair of the public health committee, said. “Our message to Trinity is, ‘stop this right now. Reverse your decision right now.’”
Trinity Health recently entered into a staffing partnership with Vituity, a for profit physician-owned group in California, to manage emergency medicine and hospitalist medicine services at its acute care hospitals in Connecticut.
The move has impacted nearly 120 health care providers at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury, Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs and Mount Sinai Rehab Hospital in Hartford, according to Dr. Gagan Singh, regional director for hospital medicine at Saint Francis Hospital.
Providers were notified of the move earlier this month.
“On Jan. 6, we all received emails that we have 90 days to either leave the communities that we have served for decades or sign up for a for profit company without any details,” Singh said.
Dr. Sama Alvi, a physician who works for Trinity Health, said the news of the partnership came as a surprise.
“On Christmas Eve, I gave birth to a happy, healthy baby boy at St. Francis,” she said. “Not even two weeks later, I received an email notification of Trinity's decision to terminate my employment and outsource hospitalist services to a private entity.”
While her employment was terminated by Trinity, Alvi and other employees were offered a chance to shift their employment to Vituity.
In a statement, Trinity said the collaboration strengthens its commitment to “providing high-quality, patient-centered care.”
But Alvi said the move is destabilizing to both providers and to patients.
“I'm worried about the potential mass exit of physicians from St. Francis Hospital, and the impact it's going to have on the community as a whole,” Alvi said.
Questions raised about potential impact on medical professionals working toward citizenship
The partnership of a not-for-profit health system with a for-profit entity based out of state is also raising concerns over work visas and qualifications for federal loan forgiveness programs.
The transition “has huge implications for my colleagues who are working toward obtaining their citizenship, and colleagues who are enrolled in the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, like myself,” said Caitlin Erickson, the lead hospitalist nurse practitioner in the inpatient Internal Medicine Department at Saint Francis Hospital.
More than 30% of the staff fell into one of these two categories and colleagues on visas may be required to restart their commitment period, she said, which could delay their efforts to obtain citizenship by several years.
“Additionally, because Vituity is a for-profit entity, transitioning to their organization would disqualify me and my colleagues for the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program,” Erickson said. “We are deeply concerned that we have not received any information or assurances in writing about visas or loan forgiveness, which impedes our ability to make informed decisions for ourselves and our families.”
In a statement, Vituity said that the organization offers “visa sponsorships and immigration assistance to eligible physicians, ensuring they can continue practicing without disruptions. Vituity’s commitment to inclusivity and professional development applies to all its partners and employees, irrespective of their citizenship status.”
It wasn’t immediately clear how the move would impact qualifications for certain loan forgiveness programs.
While lawmakers expressed concern the move could cause the hospitals to lose providers, Trinity told Connecticut Public in a statement that the collaboration strengthens its commitment to the region and that Trinity and Vituity have had staffing partnerships for 15 years in nine states.
