About 75 people and elected officials rallied in Schenectady Sunday to call on St. Peter’s Health Partners to drop its lawsuits against Ellis Medicine.
The rally comes months into a series of legal battles between St. Peter's and Ellis following a failed merger. Supporters of Ellis say a legal victory for St. Peter's would reduce healthcare access in Schenectady, especially for poor and elderly residents who might have a harder accessing services in Albany.
"We have some of the worst disparities in the Capital Region: We have one of the highest heart attack hospitalization rates," Arthur Butler, the executive director of the Schenectady County Human Rights Commission and one of the rally's organizers, told attendees. "We need our cardiologists in the ER and in the OR. We need our EMS to know where to take us — not all the way to Albany, but right here at Ellis Hospital. That's right. Shame on St. Peter's."
The legal battle stems from contracts signed by 27 cardiologists during a since-abandoned merger between St. Peter's and Ellis. The contracts bar cardiologists from working with Ellis for one year, but 20 of those cardiologists have signed contracts to work for Ellis starting in January.
Ellis sued St. Peter's in August, alleging that the non-compete clauses violate an agreement between the two groups and that St. Peter's has threatened legal action against cardiologists who try to work for Ellis. Ellis claimed St. Peter's is trying to destroy them as a competitor and said losing access to their cardiologists "would threaten Ellis’s existence as well as the provision of essential medical services to the population of Schenectady."
St. Peter's sued Ellis in September, alleging that Ellis was recruiting St. Peter's cardiologists in violation of an agreement signed between the two companies. That lawsuit also alleges that Ellis declined St. Peter's proposal to extend the agreement between the two companies.
St. Peter's has also sued two cardiologists — Dr. Christopher Dibble and Dr. Stephen Piacentine — for violating their non-compete agreements by signing with Ellis and for encouraging other cardiologists to do the same. Dibble and Piacentine have countersued and are asking a state court judge to block St. Peter's from enforcing the terms of the non-compete agreement as the case continues.
"Despite what Ellis is saying publicly, our focus remains on ensuring patients have uninterrupted access to care and a clear understanding of their options," a St. Peter's spokesperson said in a statement Sunday. "For any patient who chooses to transition their care elsewhere, we will assist in facilitating that transition and help ensure continuity of care. While Ellis declined our proposals to extend current services while a long-term solution is pursued, we remain committed to working collaboratively toward an outcome that best serves patients and the Schenectady community."
Cardiologists who’ve opted to stay with Ellis say that it takes anywhere from days to months to get patient records from St. Peter's, which they need to treat patients. Dr. Denis Manor, a cardiologist who will start with Ellis, says the results could be disastrous if they don't have access to those records come January, when most St. Peter's cardiologists will move over to Ellis.
"I'm scared for my patients. I'm scared it's not going to happen, and people will die," Manor said in an interview Sunday. "You got me almost crying right now because I'm nervous about that, but that's why we're also emotional because we care for our patients. We care about what we've done, and we don't want to see patients hurt. And they're they're getting hurt right now because of what's happening. And St. Peter's can can easily change their mind and say, 'Yep, we're wrong. We shouldn't have done this.'"
As the lawsuits play out, state lawmakers who represent Schenectady have proposed restrictions on non-compete agreements in healthcare.
Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara is proposing a bill that would make non-compete agreements unenforceable if they threaten access to healthcare.
"When you sign these non-competes, you want to work, so you're under pressure to even sign them in the first place. That's what's wrong with them altogether," Santabarbara said in a speech at Sunday's rally. "But now what's happening is we're preventing doctors from from bringing healthcare to our community. You're saying you cannot go to Schenectady to provide the healthcare that community needs. That is just wrong, and it does need to be banned."
State Sen.-elect Sarah Rogerson and Assemblymember Phil Steck, both of whom attended the rally, have backed banning non-compete agreements in healthcare entirely.
"St. Peter's could decide to end this now and tell their lawyers to stop," Rogerson said in a speech at Sunday's rally. "If they won't, there's an answer, and that is to pass statewide a ban on non-competes and non-solicitation agreements in the healthcare field. They've done it in Massachusetts, and more recently, they've done it in Washington state — and in Washington state, they made it retroactive."
