An emergency medicine physicians group has sued Envision Healthcare, the giant health care services company, alleging that it violated California laws barring corporations from practicing medicine when it took over staffing of the emergency department at Placentia-Linda Hospital in Placentia, California, in August, NBC News reports.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Physician Group, or AAEM, a nonprofit professional medical association that provides administrative services to physician groups. For-profit Envision Healthcare says it is the country’s largest emergency medicine group, partnering with 540 health care facilities in 45 states. Envision is owned by KKR, the private equity powerhouse.
Between them, Envision and TeamHealth, owned by the private equity firm Blackstone, control at least one-third of U.S. hospital emergency departments.
The suit, filed in California state court, does not seek monetary damages. It asks the court to stop Envision from operating at Placentia-Linda and other hospitals in California, where the suit says it staffs at least a dozen emergency departments. Before Envision took over the contract to run the emergency department at the Placentia hospital, an AAEM group staffed the department.
Envision and KKR declined to comment on the lawsuit. Read more.
