Battle between Christus St. Vincent, cancer clinic heads to mediation

By Rick Ruggles rruggles@sfnewmexican.com

May 12, 2022 Updated May 13, 2022

A physician at a Santa Fe cancer clinic engulfed in an ongoing conflict with Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center said he suspects the hospital wants to grind the independent operation into oblivion.

But Hope Wade, chief operating officer for the hospital, disputed that contention, writing in an email Christus St. Vincent “welcomes independent physicians” and has “successful contracted relationships with many independent groups in our community.” She named six such entities, including New Mexico Heart Institute and HealthFront Emergency Physicians.

In an interview and a Facebook presentation, Dr. Scott Herbert said he believes Christus St. Vincent’s goal in terminating the contract several months early with New Mexico Cancer Care Associates appears to be rooted in defeating the clinic before it becomes a competitor. Herbert has asked patients to contact a variety of outside entities and the half-owner, Anchorum St. Vincent, with their concerns.

Herbert’s comments don’t bode well for mediation sessions scheduled for May 23-24 between the hospital and clinic.

Wade said the hospital extended its contract end date with the cancer clinic from May 27 to at least July 15. The latter date is still more than five months before the original contract was expected to conclude. Wade said the hospital wants to “provide additional time to work through further details at mediation.”

Herbert said the clinic has a strategic disadvantage because the hospital hasn’t shared patient contact information. He said the clinic isn’t allowed to contact patients for nonclinical reasons and that it is trying to communicate its position in this conflict with patients through Facebook and Twitter while the hospital sends letters to patients.

“We feel like our patients are only getting one side of the story,” Herbert said Thursday.

The clinic has said 4,000 patients, including patients not currently being treated, are involved.

Christus St. Vincent has said the contract will be terminated because the clinic hasn’t fulfilled certain obligations in the contract in a relationship that is about 11 years old. The hospital contends the clinic isn’t adequately staffed, hasn’t performed certain administrative duties and has tried to recruit some Christus St. Vincent-employed physicians to join a group of independent doctors.

Clinic officials have said those claims have no merit and that Christus St. Vincent wants to convert clinic doctors to hospital employees.

Christus St. Vincent has said it doesn’t want patient care disrupted and will keep paying cancer clinic doctors until the hospital no longer contracts with them. The hospital announced early this year that it will build an $80 million cancer facility and said it soon will hire more of its own oncologists.

Herbert said when the contract expires, “there’s no mechanism in place for them [the hospital] to continue paying us.” He said the contract specifies that when the relationship ends, the hospital should provide assistance so the clinic can go back to being a fully functioning private practice, with the same services as it had before it partnered with the hospital.

But he said the hospital maintains the chemotherapy area on the second floor of the clinic at 490 W. Zia Road, and it would be vital for the clinic to get that back. He said the hospital, which is well north of the clinic, intends to keep the chemotherapy suite, and chemo provides a substantial part of the revenue in cancer care.

When the partnership ends, he said, the clinic would need to administer chemotherapy again to survive. By holding onto the chemo suite on the second floor, he said, the hospital would show it is “trying to put us out of business.”

Wade’s email said Christus St. Vincent’s focus “is and always will be patient care.”

Anchorum St. Vincent CEO and President Jerry Jones said his organization isn’t a party to the contractual dispute.

Though Herbert said in his Facebook video that he believed “Christus is trying to snuff out a competitor before we can get started,” he also expressed some hope for the talks later this month.

“There’s a lot riding on this mediation,” he said. “And I think if we come up with a reasonable solution that takes care of our patients … we’ll come through this well, right?”