Christus St. Vincent, cancer clinic dispute grows

By Rick Ruggles rruggles@sfnewmexican.com

Apr 20, 2022

Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and its independent cancer care contractors Tuesday gave differing versions of their ongoing dispute’s impact on patients.

New Mexico Cancer Care Associates said if Christus St. Vincent terminates its contract early, the clinic won’t have its own insurance contracts set up, nor will it receive its fee from the hospital — thus paralyzing the clinic. The hospital has said that even with the breakup, now expected to take place May 27, the hospital’s primary objective is for patients to keep seeing the oncologists they prefer.

Christus St. Vincent President and CEO Lillian Montoya wrote in an email message Tuesday afternoon to The New Mexican her hospital does the billing for the cancer clinic “and would be supportive of continuing this practice, or a similar practice, until they have secured their own contracts with insurance companies.”

The two entities have been at odds for months, with Christus St. Vincent asking the cancer clinic’s oncologists and staffers to become hospital employees.

The clinic has declined to join as an employed group, and Christus St. Vincent now says it intends to terminate the clinic’s contract seven months before it was scheduled to end.

New Mexico Cancer Care Associates has expressed concern cancer care will become tangled for thousands of patients until the conflict is resolved.

A cancer clinic oncologist, Dr. Scott Herbert, wrote in a text Tuesday it is “completely disingenuous” to claim the breakup wouldn’t affect patients. Herbert said Christus St. Vincent pays the clinic a fee to see patients and to manage the center at 490 W. Zia Road in Santa Fe.

If Christus St. Vincent canceled the contract, Herbert added, the clinic would “have no source of income.”

But Montoya’s email said “a flurry of efforts” had been underway between the hospital and clinic for several months.

“My hope was to continue our work with NMCCA in their contractual arrangement, not employed,” she wrote. “When that discussion failed, we discussed other potential arrangements, including employment. They were not interested and let us know back in July 2021. I’m stunned that they are revising history a bit.”

Montoya also wrote: “From the time they decided to move in a new direction, they have not been meeting the requirements of their current contractual arrangements for which they are being paid. Because of NMCCA’s contractual breaches, we had to plan for termination earlier than anticipated in order to ensure continuity of patient care.”

For years, the clinic worked exclusively with Christus St. Vincent, but when a second Santa Fe hospital was built four years ago, clinic leaders have said, exclusivity no longer made sense. Currently, the clinic’s doctors don’t have practice privileges at the second hospital, Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center, but would expect to get them.

Christus intends to build a cancer facility on its own campus by 2024, and a spokesman, Arturo Delgado, has said the hospital will have six or seven cancer care providers by summer. He said last week it currently has three.

Montoya wrote Tuesday in an email to employees: “Rest assured, our primary objective is that patients continue to see their provider of choice. Contrary to what you may have read, we would never do anything to jeopardize patient care. It’s not who we are.”

A Christus St. Vincent letter to patients late last week said: “During this time of transition, we will work hard to ensure no Cancer Center services will be disrupted. That’s our responsibility and our commitment to you.”

Christus St. Vincent said it sent 6,000 letters of explanation to patients, although not all of those are currently in treatment, and some are former patients.

Montoya’s letter to employees said: “We have been working actively to get NMCCA to mediation to discuss the terms of our separation but have been unsuccessful to date. Mediation remains a priority.”

Dr. Kat Chan, president of practice at the clinic, wrote in a text Tuesday clinic leadership would enter mediation “in good faith with no pre-conditions.”