'Deplorable': Atrium Health ridicules company for 'fear-mongering smear campaign'
"Desperate." "Unbecoming." "Deplorable."
Those are the latest words Charlotte's Atrium Health is using against another health care giant as an unusually public dispute over a lost medical contract heats up.
In a court filing Monday, Atrium attacked Florida-based Mednax for a "fear-mongering smear campaign" involving print, radio and other advertisements that have run since a Mednax affiliate lost a contract to supply anesthesiologists at many of Atrium's Charlotte-area hospitals.
Atrium's latest filing says Mednax has intensified its false statements in an effort to make the hospital system reverse a decision to end its relationship with the affiliate, Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants.
Canceling the contract ended a nearly 40-year relationship between Southeast and Atrium and sparked a public spat rarely seen in the health care industry.
Advertisements in recent weeks have accused Atrium of making radical changes to anesthesia care that could seriously jeopardize patient safety. As of Monday, a Southeast website, Yourcriticalmoment.com, displayed a counter ticking down to July 1 — the day Atrium switches to a new anesthesiology vendor. "Do you really want to play the odds?" the site asks.
In a statement, Mednax and Southeast defended the advertisements as a way to help patients make informed health care decisions as Atrium switches anesthesiology providers.
"It is not unreasonable to question whether patient care and safety will be affected as a result of this huge change," Mednax and Southeast said.
"In the face of what we view as Atrium Health’s reckless business behaviors and rhetoric, we will continue to raise our concerns as physicians about the system's aggressive, monopolistic business practices and their negative effects on patients, the medical community and the region," the companies said.
Mednax and Southeast sued Atrium in March over the lost contract, accusing Atrium and the new vendor of stealing Southeast's trade secrets.
Atrium, formerly known as Carolinas HealthCare System, has countersued, alleging it's been defamed by the media campaign, which has led some patients to cancel procedures.
Atrium has also accused publicly traded Mednax of being more focused on its bottom line than patient safety since acquiring Southeast in 2010. In its countersuit, Atrium said Mednax rejected steps Atrium suggested to lower anesthesiology costs for patients while maintaining the same level of patient care.
In amending its suit Monday, Atrium alleged Mednax has become more desperate in recent days amid other struggles, including a prominent investor saying he's short-selling Mednax's stock, or taking positions that pay off if the company's shares decline. Mednax's stock plummeted more than 11 percent on the day investor Jim Chanos made his comments, Atrium said in the court filing.
This story was originally published May 7, 2018 at 3:51 PM with the headline "'Deplorable': Atrium Health ridicules company for 'fear-mongering smear campaign'."