AMC taking over St Barnabas system (also Monmouth and Westchester)

[GasGal]

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heard through the grapevine that NAPA (? the biggest AMC in the country)

has signed paperwork to take over:

-Westchester (north of NYC)

-Monmouth (central NJ)

And admin in the St Barnabas New Jersey system is recruiting NAPA to take over the rest of their hospitals

(Kimbal, Clara Maass, Newark Beth Israel, Childrens of NJ, etc)

I'm not sure if this is public knowledge yet...if not, gas docs in the St Barnabas system may benefit from knowing this:

 

[coprolalia]

What/who is exactly NAPA? Sounds like an autoparts distributor. Maybe you can get your anesthetic done and your carburator cleaned at the same time.

-copro

 

[numbmd]

I'm pretty sure some of that is inaccurate, but NAPA DID try to get in recently. Also one of our recently departed members is a chair in PA in NAPA system.

Recently departed, but still alive.

You can be sure there will be some calls tomorrow.

 

[urge]

All I know about AMC's is to stay away from them. They screwed one friend of mine. I wonder what would happen to the Westchester residency program. They'll probably be ok having the X Men son close by.

 

[militarymd]

AMC type arrangements will likely be the wave of the future.

The only question is this....who's going to own the AMC...some schmuck with a MBA...or us.

 

[GasGal]

Has anyone heard back form any anesthesiologists in the St Barnabas (New Jersey) system? This could effect a lot of anesthesiologists families'...especially if something could be done to prevent what happened to Jet....

 

[harryh]

AMC type arrangements will likely be the wave of the future.

The only question is this....who's going to own the AMC...some schmuck with a MBA...or us.

AMC is only going to be "the wave of the future," If Anesthesiologists and CRNA don't wise up and recognize how destructive these Crooks and Con Men are. They lie every time they open their mouths. Whether, they are a M.B.A. or M.D. it makes no difference since either way they don't practice medicine but work full time concocting lies and schemes to take the money you make thru your hard work by treating patients and place it in their pockets.

If you care about being paid fairly and honestly would be wise to avoid make the mistake of working for an AMC.

The money the AMC steals from you is just the start. When the AMC sees that you have figured out that you are working for a crook they will fire you. Then to shut you up, the AMC will destroy your career by destroying your ability to find another job by sending out bad references and instructing the hospital to send out bad references about you.

 

[militarymd]

AMC is only going to be “the wave of the future,” If Anesthesiologists and CRNA don’t wise up and recognize how destructive these Crooks and Con Men are. They lie every time they open their mouths. Whether, they are a M.B.A. or M.D. it makes no difference since either way they don’t practice medicine but work full time concocting lies and schemes to take the money you make thru your hard work by treating patients and place it in their pockets.

If you care about being paid fairly and honestly would be wise to avoid make the mistake of working for an AMC.

The money the AMC steals from you is just the start. When the AMC sees that you have figured out that you are working for a crook they will fire you. Then to shut you up, the AMC will destroy your career by destroying your ability to find another job by sending out bad references and instructing the hospital to send out bad references about you.

The AMC's don't lie to you...they lie to the hospital CEO's and administrators...with fancy presentations and contracts.....which they may or may not be able to fulfill.

There are plenty of poorly trained non bc...fmg's outthere who'll gladly take the spot that you won't take after the AMC takes over.

There are plenty of well trained bc american grads...who have too much inertial (financial and other committments) to the community where they live that ...rather than use their "exit option"...will take a pay cut and work for the AMC.

There are even MORE well trained bc american grads who never even thought about their exit strategy....and therefore by default have to become part of the AMC machine.

 

[UTSouthwestern]

The AMC's don't lie to you...they lie to the hospital CEO's and administrators...with fancy presentations and contracts.....which they may or may not be able to fulfill.

There are plenty of poorly trained non bc...fmg's outthere who'll gladly take the spot that you won't take after the AMC takes over.

There are plenty of well trained bc american grads...who have too much inertial (financial and other committments) to the community where they live that ...rather than use their "exit option"...will take a pay cut and work for the AMC.

There are even MORE well trained bc american grads who never even thought about their exit strategy....and therefore by default have to become part of the AMC machine.

This is a very key point by Mil. AMC's use your unwillingness to leave as a mode with which to assimilate you into their morass. It may start off well for you, but invariably, you do more and more work, in some cases get reassigned to other facilities in far flung nether regions of the community (as a reward for being a good anesthesiologist and good representative of the group), and get thrown under the bus for any reason (dissatisfied with pay, complication beyond your control, etc.). Understand that if profitability decreases, the AMC's will find a way to "trim the fat" and that fat may be you. You are constantly at the whim of the AMC bosses and your job security could be determined by a careless whisper, an expected outcome, or a vindicative partner.

This goes the same for the CRNA's in the AMC structure. I know that one of the better ones at Southwestern from my time there, left and joined an AMC in Tyler, got "let go" for case in which the patient stroked out from an undiagnosed LA thrombus as well as his unwillingness to take the blame for it and a conflict with the surgeon about stopping the case, etc. He left without his last month's salary and no tail coverage of any kind because he "violated" his contract by leaving (he was forced out). He went to work for another AMC, really liked it for the first six months and did a great job, found out that he was going to be shipped out to Dekalb county (an hour+ drive from his home one way every day) because of his good work and personality, took it like a trooper for another six months, requested to transfer back to home base, only to find out that spot had been filled by a fresh CRNA grad.

He did not renew his contract and now works with a private group that pays him less, but treats him fairly, lets him take extra cases/call if he wants to earn more money, and keeps him centrally located at one facility.

I'm sure many physicians and CRNA's have great experiences with AMC's, but one shift of the tide and all of them could get washed out to sea to be replaced by ever cheaper, less trained, or worse replacements

 

[coprolalia]

Check me if I'm wrong, but AMC's are basically healthcare corporations, right? So, in a sense, are they immune to the FTC restrictions placed on physicians for collective bargaining? Just curious to know if anyone knows this. Are they considered a "practice" or a "corporation"? It just seems to me, from what I've heard, that they have the ability to drive down the market prices and, in essence, create sort of a monopoly in a certain geographic region. This would most definitely be frowned upon by the FTC if, say, a bunch of independent practices formed an IPA and did the same.

Seems like a loophole to me, if this occurs. Anyone know?

-copro

 

[huron]

Check me if I'm wrong, but AMC's are basically healthcare corporations, right? So, in a sense, are they immune to the FTC restrictions placed on physicians for collective bargaining? Just curious to know if anyone knows this. Are they considered a "practice" or a "corporation"? It just seems to me, from what I've heard, that they have the ability to drive down the market prices and, in essence, create sort of a monopoly in a certain geographic region. This would most definitely be frowned upon by the FTC if, say, a bunch of independent practices formed an IPA and did the same.

Seems like a loophole to me, if this occurs. Anyone know?

-copro

The exclusive contract system is a monopoly system. However the government, will allow a monopoly so long as the hospital administrators do not benefit financially from the choice of anesthesia providers to give the hospital's exclusive contract. If you can prove the AMC is paying or bribing their way into the hospital you can challenge their right to have the exclusive contract in court, Otherwise your challenge to the right to an AMC to have an exclusive contract has little chance in court.

If an AMC has multiple sites they can use that leverage to negotiate better rates with the insurance carriers. A small group has little leverage with big insurance companies so it has to take what ever rate they feel like paying or refuse to take the insurance thus upsetting the patients surgeons and administrators. This extra money is an unfair business advantage that size gives AMC over smaller groups that cannot effectively negotiate against the insurance companies in the form of IPA due to FTC restrictions placed on physicians for collective bargaining. The only real answer for physicians is to form a union to negotiate for better rates of reimbursement from the insurance carriers. The extra money earned by the larger AMC's is a benefit that will only go to line the pockets of the AMC's owner but will never be seen by those actually doing the work.