Trinity Health of New England is outsourcing the employment of more than 100 physicians at its Connecticut hospital to medical group Vituity, Trinity said in a statement shared with Becker's.
Here are five things to know:
1. Vituity, a physician-owned, 500-practice medical group headquartered in California, will manage emergency medicine and hospitalist medicine services at the health system's three acute care hospitals in Connecticut.
2. "Vituity has a proven track record of success in partnering with hospitals and health systems to improve access to care, hospital throughput and patient experience," the health system said in the statement. "In fact, Vituity has been a trusted partner to Trinity Health for 15 years, serving ministries in 9 states."
3. The hospitals are St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury, and Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs.
4. Trinity gave the 100 physicians a 90-day notice for them to shift their employment to Vituity or lose their jobs, state Sen. Saud Anwar, MD, chair of the Public Health Committee, said in a Jan. 9 statement.
5. Dr. Anwar said he is "alarmed" by the decision and has called on Trinity to unwind the partnership.
"Our state is already experiencing a severe shortage of physicians and this decision by Trinity threatens the state’s efforts and efforts of all the health care systems to recruit and retain physicians," he said in the statement. “Not only would the loss of these physicians directly impact the patients receiving care from them – likely creating even more demand amid limited supply Connecticut – but it risks a ‘brain drain’ effect, where these talented workers, who have been established in our state for years and even decades, are forced to move elsewhere for employment."