New MCMC Cardiology Agreement Has Some Crying Foul
Mid-Columbia Medical Center recently announced a new agreement with Adventist Health Portland for cardiology services. They are promising a seamless transition from OHSU cardiologists that were previously serving patients in The Dalles. Some are wondering why the change?
By Tom Peterson
A recent partnership between nonprofits Mid-Columbia Medical Center and Adventist Health of Portland to provide cardiology services has administrators celebrating but has others in the local medical community asking questions.
MCMC had a long-standing contractual agreement with OHSU Cardiology providers, dating back to 2009.
That all changed in recent months.
In an internal letter to MCMC health care providers dated March 6, 2021, MCMC’s Chief Executive Officer Dennis Knox noted the long-standing relationship with OHSU specialty services. However, Knox said that despite the long-standing relationship between the two entities, it was time to move on. Knox wrote, “But as the healthcare industry and the needs of our community have continued to evolve, it has become apparent to both parties that the existing agreement is obsolete and unsustainably costly in today’s environment.”
Mid-Columbia Medical Center Chief Executive Officer CEO Dennis Knox
Conflict of Interest?
The Vice President of Regional Physician Services at Adventist Health is Jody Knox, who is also Dennis Knox’s wife, raising questions about whether there was a conflict of interest involved in the new contract.
CCCNews reached out to both Jody and Dennis Knox for comment. They did not return calls.
CCCNews asked MCMC public affairs department if Jody Knox had played a role in the cardiology partnership and if so, what exactly was her role? MCMC denied any conflict of interest.
Jody Knox is the Vice President of Regional Physician Services at Adventist Health. She is married to MCMC CEO Dennis Knox.
“The agreement was negotiated between MCMC and the Northwest Regional Heart & Vascular team,” wrote MCMC Public Relations Manager Stephanie Bowen in an email. “Jody Knox is not on that team and was not involved in the negotiation or signing of this agreement.”
Why Adventist and Not OHSU?
In attempting to understand how the new agreement with Adventist is better for local patients, CCCNews asked what was demonstrably better about the agreement and specifically about the costs of the contract.
MCMC did not address the cost benefits or losses in their response.
This is what MCMC said:
“Our new partnership with Adventist Health Portland Northwest Regional Heart & Vascular will assure the uninterrupted continuation of all existing cardiology services while paving the way for expanded clinical offerings in the future to meet the evolving needs of our community,” Spokesperson Bowen wrote in the email. “In addition, Northwest Regional Heart & Vascular is the closest tertiary heart center to the Gorge, which means highly specialized cardiac care is now more conveniently located to Gorge residents.”
Tertiary simply means health care obtained from specialists.
And Bowen is correct. Adventist is the closest heart center by six minutes. Northwest Regional Heart & Vascular is 6 minutes or 6.2 miles closer to MCMC, according to Google Maps.
Adventist Health of Portland at 10123 SE Market St, is 6 miles closer to Mid-Columbia Medical Center.
Patient Care
The contract for cardiology between MCMC and OHSU officially terminates on Aug. 31
That news that the contract was ending came with some discomfort from local patients who touted the “great” care they received from OHSU cardiology doctors as well as MCMC staff.
While some received letters in the mail announcing the end of the contract, others with heart conditions said they learned of the change only after trying to make an appointment with their current OHSU Doctor.
“I called and found that my appointment had been canceled,” said Brian Tuck at a Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs meeting on July 1st, where Dennis Knox was the guest speaker.
“It would be nice to have more understanding as to why they’re changing the relationship with OHSU,” Tuck said in a later interview. “It seems like it's working, so why do they have to change it.”
At the meeting, Knox said he would personally help Tuck iron out the situation.
Tuck, who has issues with regulating his heart rhythm, is a patient of OHSU's Bassel Beitinjaneh, MD. Since the termination of the agreement between OHSU and MCMC, the physician has begun moving his practice to Hillsboro, Oregon.
Patients do have a choice of seeing a new cardiologist at MCMC or commuting to the Portland area to see their original OHSU physicians.
“I would have to go to Hillsboro,” Tuck said. “That’s not realistic.”
Jack Lafond, also of The Dalles, had similar concerns.
“I’ve been very very happy with how OHSU has been involved for the past few years,” he said in May. “My care in the past has been terrific not only with cardiology but with MCMC (Mid-Columbia Medical Center) itself. I hate to see that shaken up,” he said.
Long-Standing Agreement
OHSU and MCMC had been working in partnership for cardiology services for more than a decade.
In 2009 OHSU and MCMC first entered into an agreement for Professional Cardiology Services with the goal to provide patients the right care at the right time while keeping them in their community whenever possible.
Since then, OHSU has made available its OHSU-employed cardiologists to provide specialized cardiology services at MCMC for the benefit of the citizens of the Mid-Columbia region.
Patients with heart conditions rely heavily on their doctors for quality of life as heart conditions can trigger fatigue, pain and death.
Unclear Who Ended Agreement
OHSU and MCMC officials pointed fingers at each other when it became public the cardiology contract was ending.
“In recent weeks, MCMC publicly expressed its intentions to end its existing contractual relationship with OHSU and establish new contractual relationships with other health systems and cardiology providers,” said Tamara Hargens-Bradley Senior Director with OHSU Strategic Communications back in May.
“OHSU understands that this announcement caused OHSU’s cardiologists to identify and pursue their options to practice cardiology elsewhere. OHSU is not renewing its cardiology services agreement with MCMC because it is likely losing the professional resources necessary to perform the agreement,” she said.
MCMC CEO Dennis Knox disagreed with that statement vehemently.
“We did not terminate it. It was OHSU,” Knox said on Friday, May 21. “That is not true - absolutely not true… That is the first time I am hearing this. It is simply not true. I refute that.”
The New Deal
Now MCMC is touting the new partnership with Adventist Health Portland’s Northwest Regional Heart and Vascular cardiologists.
Adventist Health Portland began an affiliation or partnership agreement with OHSU back on January 1, 2018, according to a story by Elizabeth Hayes with the Portland Business Journal.
“Adventist Health Portland and Oregon Health & Science University this week finalized their “affiliation” agreement under which they will integrate their clinical activities and services in the Portland area,” Hayes wrote.
Read the entire MCMC Press Release here.
Read CCCNews’ original story about cardiology services here.
