Put cancer patients first in ending contract
By Kathryn Chan
Apr 16, 2022
As a physician, I took an oath to care for patients, which is why I am concerned about Christus St. Vincent’s actions that I believe could gravely affect the cancer patients in my care.
Cancer can be a devastating disease, and a positive doctor-patient relationship is paramount to tackling it. At New Mexico Cancer Care Associates, we work as an oncology team to take on cancer and deliver the best care and treatment plan for our patients. We learn their needs, their fears, their hopes and the unique way cancer is affecting them. Each patient is unique, with unique needs. We understand the human side of cancer, and our patients are people, not case numbers only good for billing.
Over 4,000 cancer patients in Northern New Mexico could lose their doctors and treatment plans if Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center continues with a plan to terminate the contract with our practice early and throw patient care into confusion.
We have always put patient care first, and what may happen in a few weeks is unreasonable and likely harmful to all of our patients. Patients need to have steady attention from the doctors who know their case and have coordinated their treatment plan. Patients are not numbers to just be thrown around in a business manner. In all things, we need to put patients first.
At our practice, we have been serving cancer patients since 1992 and have had a contract with Christus since 2011 to care exclusively for all the cancer patients who enter the Christus system, but we have always maintained our independence as a practice. This has served the community well, without complaint from the hospital. We are a practice of several highly dedicated doctors and nurse practitioners who care deeply about our patients.
Recently, Christus approached our physician practice, asking us to give up our independence and become employees of the hospital. We said no because we believe the patients are better served with independent doctors who are not controlled by a hospital bureaucracy. We said we didn’t want to be employees of Christus. Later, they sent us a termination letter and are threatening to leave thousands of patients without doctors or a plan for care. Despite our efforts, there has been no constructive, good-faith dialogue to reach an amicable resolution.
It’s unreasonable that Christus would want thousands of cancer patients to be separated from their doctors and treatment plans, at critical times in their treatments. It’s not right that the hospital would put its business model ahead of the patients and their well-being. We believe patients should come first.
If Christus cancels our contract May 27, as they are threatening, we no longer will be able to treat patients for at least six months, due to administrative issues, and more than 4,000 patients could be left without doctors or treatment plans.
The current contract with the hospital is set to expire at the end of December, which gives us enough time for a proper transition plan. Throwing patients off their treatments early might be seen by the hospital as helping it to transition these patients to its own cancer center, but it is not in the patients’ best interest to lose access to their chosen doctor and treatment plan. And it’s not at all certain the hospital will have the staffing of oncologists to make the transition.
What are we asking for? We’re asking Christus to be reasonable and allow for our contract to run until the end of the year and not cancel it early. That’s what the contract calls for legally, anyway. Christus officials have said they want to enter into mediation, but their actions don’t indicate that yet. We hope hospital administrators put patients first and make the right choice for them and for our community.
We want to put cancer patients first.
Dr. Kathryn Chan is president of New Mexico Cancer Care Associates.
