Volume XV Number 4 S April 18, 2006
COURT ENJOINS HOSPITAL EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT WHICH WOULD CIRCUMVENT MEDICAL STAFF BYLAWS’ PROTECTIONS
In a case which could set dangerous precedent, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital attempted to enter into an exclusive contract agreement with a single cardiac surgeon recruited by the Hospital. The deal, if allowed to stand, could effectively eliminate the staff privileges of four existing cardiac surgeons without affording them any due process rights under the medical staff bylaws. The four surgeons brought a complaint and order to show cause and the Court has preliminarily enjoined the Hospital from interfering with the surgeons’ privileges. The four surgeons are represented by Kern Augustine. The Medical Society of New Jersey, the NJ Chapter of the American College of Surgeons and the NJ Chapter of the American College of Thoracic Surgeons have all entered the case as Friends of the Court on behalf of the four surgeons. Should the Hospital be allowed to go forward with its plan, hospitals could eliminate voluntary staff members without cause, simply by entering into an exclusive contract with a favored physician. Opposing the surgeons is Joseph Gorrell of Wolf Block Brach Eichler.
BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS REJECTS OUT-OF-STATE OWNERSHIP OF NEW JERSEY MEDICAL PRACTICES
The NJ State Board of Medical Examiners (“Board”) has denied a request that it amend its regulation governing acceptable professional practice forms to permit physicians who are not licensed in New Jersey to become members of a New Jersey medical practice limited liability company (LLC). Under the requested amendment, the foreign practitioners must own less than a majority of the membership interests in the LLC and could not engage in the professional practice of medicine in New Jersey. The petitioner argued that the amendment would provide greater flexibility for inter-State ownership of New Jersey medical practices while still complying with licensure requirements. The Board stated that it intended to extend to the LLC practice form the Professional Service Corporations Act's requirement that all members of a professional corporation be licensed in New Jersey and be accountable to this State's professional boards. The Board also disagreed with the petitioner's interpretation of recent amendments to the practice rule that the Board was signaling its acceptance of expanded ownership and control of medical entities by non-plenary licensees and non-physicians. The Board stated that it has never approved of nonplenary or non-physician licensees having a majority share of an LLC co-owned with plenary licensed physicians nor did it ever contemplate that a physician licensee would not have to control such an LLC.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ISSUES PANDEMIC FLU PLANNING CHECKLIST FOR MEDICAL OFFICES
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued a checklist for physician offices and clinics to use in preparing for pandemic influenza. The checklist, at http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/medical.html supplements New Jersey’s avian flu surveillance and testing information for physicians, available at http://nj.gov/health/flu/professionals.shtml. The CDC also has a provider communication website at http://www.bt.cdc.gov/coca which members of the medical community can visit for up-to-date information regarding disease outbreaks.