30-doctor GCAP group wants to leave Alliance - Sacramento Business Journal:

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GCAP, a primary care group with about30 doctors, joinee the hospital system only 20 months ago. Now it’d claiming a litany of contractt violationsthat “have seriously affected the ability of the physicianas to provide excellent health care for their many In a June 3 letter to Health Alliance CEO Ken Hanover, the doctors list 15 complaints, • Lack of 12 notice on changes in contractual including payment of benefits; • failure to pay vendors, leadingb to the “embarrassing shutdown of serviceds necessary to operate our business.” The doctors on Wednesday filed a complaingt in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
They ask to be releasefd from service to the Health Alliance and for damagesa andattorney fees. When it joined the Healtbh Alliancein 2007, GCAP was the only independent practice of its type in the It became a wholly owned subsidiaryt of the hospital system, which includeas University, Jewish and Fort Hamilton hospitals, and the . The practicee had hoped to benefi from a complete electronic health records systenm that could interact withthe Alliance’s hospitals, as well as the abilit y to expand geographically and recruit doctors more Health Alliance spokesman Tony Condia, in a written said the health system was "surpriserd and disappointed" by the letter and He said the Alliance had initiallg tried to negotiate with the physicians, then offered independeng arbitration, which the practice The Alliance was preparing for preliminary discussions to sevef the relationship when the lawsuit was "This litigation violates the terms of the servicer agreement, which requi res us to resolve disputees such as this with a neutral arbitrator.
We woul therefore encourage the GCAP physicians to uphold theird contractual obligations and not pursuecostly litigation," accordingf to the statement. withdrew from the Health Alliances following a long court battle that began inMarchb 2006. It started operating independently in 2008 but only signed a finalo settlement agreement inJanuaru 2009. The two St. Luke hospitalsd similarly withdrew, reaching a settlement with the Healtyh Alliance inSeptember 2008. St. Luke has mergerd with .