-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
USACS Takes the L
Started by EctopicFetus
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
Careful they might do you a huge favor and blacklist you.
Which contract?
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
It’ll only be a win if a non-CMG steps in but showing USACS the door is a good start.
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
Huge hospital just outside San Jose.
I've read the same reports, and I also read or heard the ER group is forming their own SDG.
Out Of The ER, Into The Street
Enraged by Wall Street’s takeover of their profession, emergency physicians are rising up and speaking out.
www.levernews.com
Wow, excellent article that managed to trash ACEP, USACS, and Dominic Bagnoli at the same time!Out Of The ER, Into The Street
Enraged by Wall Street’s takeover of their profession, emergency physicians are rising up and speaking out.
The usacs KGB can only silence so many voices
Dude. I’m tops on their blacklist. Reportedly their regional medical director is a PA. What a USACS thing to do. Lol. Clown show over there.
Last edited:
You’re an ectopic fetus. I’m pretty sure you’re on every ED docs blacklist.
Santa Clara Valley
Yeah what a flat partnership. Those folks get fat $$ going to meetings and fluffing dom meanwhile poor docs don’t know any better and are working Saturday overnights in an understaffed Ed.
Each one of those special people is pulling down 400K for their "leadership roles". It certainly is physician-owned. In that a few physicians own and profit off of the work of hundreds of others.
A physicians reintroduction to capitalism.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I wonder what they make in their admin roles. It would be pretty chitty if they each made 400K without actually practicing. 50 docs x 400K = $20M of cash taken from EM docs working the pits. I kind of doubt that, but I wouldn't bet against it.
Most admin think they are a net positive for the organization when, in fact, they aren't. Some admin roles would be better off going unfilled rather than having someone there that makes active decisions that make things worse. Remember during COVID when none of the admin came into the hospital for months (despite us all being 'in this together') and everything carried on? That's because many aren't needed although they'll like to think they kept everything running virtually.
Dude I hear ya. I just wonder in an organization like USUCKS how much money in made for being an admin. My understanding (I'm casually aware of one of the admins through a friend) that many make a stipend for doing admin work, but many of them still work in the pit. So maybe their monthly stipend is 10K and not 30K.
I don't know any of their actual salaries but I do know they all receive generous monthly stipends of 10K-50K so it would be easy to bring home well over 500K+ without doing shifts every month. I will add their current president owns a multimillion dollar mansion in Central Texas with this sweet custom made backyard lounge with an infinity pool that was featured on the show pool kings.
The regionals vps for envision made 450k+ in 2015. These people are making over 400k guaranteed.
Them usucks dollas spend like all other dollas. Can’t wait to see them collapse. It’s coming and it is gonna be glorious. Reports that a bunch of other California contracts of theirs are at risk.
Not carrying water for USACS, but how many executive level national positions do you think it takes to run a corporation? In a business as complex as healthcare?
I have no knowledge of USACS command structure other than briefly perusing that link, but I did get to see Team's structure up close. They had a two tiered leadership structure, with tier I being the leaders of large groups that sold out to Team and tier II being internal Team docs that rose through the ranks. Tier I were generally given either make-work speaking/consulting positions or were made regional leaders if they still wanted to be in the game. They rarely if ever worked clinically and their pay was essentially just an annuity that resulted from the sale of their former group. Tier II docs were overachievers that were still working at least half-time clinically and had a full-time corporate job on top of that. They'd make a little bit more than their purely clinical counterparts, but weren't billing anywhere near ED rates for their non-clinical time.
From looking at a selection of the bios, USACS seems to be mostly Tier II types. And most of the titles seem reasonable from a corporate standpoint.
With that being said, good on the Cali docs for dumping them and I hope that becomes a major trend.
Is that with or without clinical shifts?
Recent email from USACS asking us to "reach out" to our "non-USACS colleagues" to recruit them by telling them how great their clinical decision making tools are...or something.
Same email had a survey asking us to prioritize a 16 item list of things that are important to us "clinician owners". Items like gym memberships/tai chi/etc, child care, advanced degrees, mentoring, etc.
Higher pay and adequate staffing was curiously missing from the list of things they wanted input on.
Same email had a survey asking us to prioritize a 16 item list of things that are important to us "clinician owners". Items like gym memberships/tai chi/etc, child care, advanced degrees, mentoring, etc.
Higher pay and adequate staffing was curiously missing from the list of things they wanted input on.
I would just fly to another state if Usacs bought owned a bunch of my local hospitals
I mostly have.
I still work there a shift or two a month because it is a great team there, and working there makes me better. The medical director is a great guy, and a friend, who I would do about anything for.
But when they bought out previous big group (who pretty much left us alone), and then cut our pay 20%, I moved on to another primary gig.
Then they cut the MLP staffing by 40%.
I'm hoping the hospital cuts USACS and we either form a SDG or are direct employed. I think with the cuts in hours the metrics are going to tank, opening that possibility up.
0 clinical shifts.
Looking at that list of leaders for USACS it’s an impressive collection of brain power. Many of them are very talented and capable leaders. It’s a shame it’s going to waste for this company.
They know what they need to do to help make their physicians truly happier, however, those things cost a lot of money. What they really want to know is “how can we trick you into liking us more (or at all) by spending the least amount of money as possible”.
Gym memberships would cost a minimal amount. Childcare would be more expensive but I could see someone taking a job strictly because of available/flexible childcare. Mentoring would be free because they’d try to tug on the heart and moral strings of seasoned docs to ‘help’ the newer docs. I’m sure they’d get several docs willing to help out.
I know where USACS is headed (and they do, too). Their admin is just trying to ride the gravy train until they’re unemployed.
Yup at the end of the day making 50-75 more / hr goes a long way towards doc happiness. Gym memberships are super cheap. $150/month? LOL.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Knowing what I know about insurance reimbursement, USACS and other CMGs are going to face some tough realities soon.
Yep and the insurers are not playing around. Unsure how many saw the recent edpma posts.
For those who don’t know edpma is essentially the business arm of cmgs. All their leadership are either rcm companies or cmg folks. They are totally spooked and rightfully so. It’s harming the sdgs as well but billions in debt isn’t easy to manage in this environment.
More details / links to said posts?
The big problem is the insurance issue will prevent many SDGs from taking over and then what are the real options.
I think the insurance issues are still a bigger hit to CMGs than SDGs. SDGs will likely have some lean years but they can weather them much better than any CMG can at this point.
I don’t have a crystal ball but what I’m seeing is that the insurers are going oon with all their contracts where they are above the qpa. The hits the cmgs. Keep in mind the cmgs are both heavily leveraged AND have substantial overhead.
The insurers are squeezing them hard. They aren’t even paying the arbitration cases they are losing. This is a ploy to make more money but also to cripple the cmgs. It’s working.
You know what’s funny, Tony Briningstool, APP CEO sent out a system wide email saying there are all sorts of rumors about our finances, but I assure we are on solid financial ground prepared for challenges blah blah etc..
If you have to send out emails like this, you know the company is already in trouble…
Tony Briningstool, MD, FACEP, Chief Medical Officer |
Some of you may remember the old “telephone game” we used to play as children, where you whisper a phrase in the first person’s ear, and they keep whispering it on down the line through multiple people. By the time you reach the last person in line, what that person heard was often vastly different than the original message. This reminds me of how stories can be taken out of context when they pass through the media or are posted on social media sites with comments. In light of the recent attention we have received in the media, I thought this would be a good opportunity to share an update with all of our physicians and advanced practice clinicians of what makes APP special, what we stand for, and provide reassurance to our team amidst these misrepresentations so you are able to discern fact from fiction should you read or hear about APP in the media, social media, or even discussions with colleagues. Our goal is that you are well informed so you can feel proud to work with APP and and also correct misinformation as you come across it. We built APP to be a specialized management company, intentionally designed to deliver a level of engagement, expertise, and partnership that allows us to differentiate ourselves as an industry leader in quality in the patient care experience and provide an environment that allows our providers to practice at a high level within a winning team environment enhancing their professional satisfaction. Our focus is simply on exceeding the expectations for all those we serve. As I have shared in other recent articles, the field of Emergency Medicine—and all practice types within the specialty—are facing several headwinds right now which must be navigated well:
Despite these headwinds, we are confident we will successfully navigate these situational challenges together. With the strong support from each of our financial partners who are committed to facilitating our success, we will continue to be recognized as an industry leader and to serve in new markets as we grow. It is our collective responsibility as good stewards of our resources to manage our practices thoughtfully and adjust accordingly to any volume and reimbursement changes we experience. Know that we stand steadfast together on our commitment to exceed expectations for our patients, providers, and hospital partners, and to fulfil our mission to deliver safe, compassionate, and efficient care to every patient, every time. While all of us in healthcare right now are working hard to provide exceptional patient care in a challenging environment, I truly believe that APP is well-positioned for a strong future, and the foundation we are laying today leads to enhanced operational security, access to more best practice resources, and ongoing educational deliverables to further support our clinical care teams. I want to take an opportunity to again “Thank You” for being a part of our journey to excellence. As always, should you have any questions regarding anything I shared here or other questions about APP’s future, please EMAIL ME, call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx or click the “Ask Tony” button below that appears on every Clinical Update issue. |
This means trouble is on the very near horizon. Very interesting.
American Physician Partners rating cut to CCC-, withdrawn by S&P Global Ratings
Ratings considers the company's near-term default risk as
www.spglobal.com
I don't think that email can counteract the fact that their credit rating is basically in junk category and you're considered to have a "high" default risk.
“I know the rumors you’ve heard but I’m here to tell you that things are actually much worse. Please be aware that the c-suite is doing everything we can to salvage something for ourselves.”
Tony from APP
Tony from APP
Financially healthy companies don't usually need to force their contractors to lend them money to stay solvent...American Physician Partners rating cut to CCC-, withdrawn by S&P Global Ratings
Ratings considers the company's near-term default risk as
I don't think that email can counteract the fact that their credit rating is basically in junk category and you're considered to have a "high" default risk.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
That Article is from 2021. Things have gotten so much worse. When will they fail? They just restructured their debt in the past 6 months or so.American Physician Partners rating cut to CCC-, withdrawn by S&P Global Ratings
Ratings considers the company's near-term default risk as
I don't think that email can counteract the fact that their credit rating is basically in junk category and you're considered to have a "high" default risk.
Engage in hospital politics locally. Set up meeting with hospital CEOs but be targeted. Makes less sense speaking to an HCA or CHS ceo since those decisions often come from above the local CEO level. However local hospitals or regional systems make a lot more sense. Engage, use resources including AAEM or even the ACEP independent course which I heard good things about even though my disdain for ACEP is high. AAEM can hold your hand thru the process.
I’m in a major metropolitan area where there are two CMGs and pretty sure I have a non compete clause. Wonderful.
It’s likely just with your cmg not the whole area. U may have to look a bit outside to start. It’s not easy but it is worth it. Scope out the hospitals. Pm me if you want I can help you. Tell me the city and I’ll find hospital options.
