After 40 years with the same physicians group to staff its emergency operations, Akron-based Summa Health System has changed contractors. The group that lost the contract held a meeting Monday in Akron.
Summa said last week that it was unable to reach a new contract with Summa Emergency Associates, the independent group of doctors who have staffed its emergency rooms for decades.
Following the meeting of about 200 of its members Monday night, the president of that group, Dr. Jeff Wright, talked about what comes next.
"Our docs would have the opportunity to stay if they choose to. I don’t think many, if any, of our docs will decide to stay with the new group that is coming in.”
Wright said Summa Emergency Associates has broad support among doctors who work with the health-care provider. A majority of the system’s medical residents sent a letter to the Akron-based hospital system's board asking for it to review the decision to change.
The new group of doctors taking over the emergency rooms at Akron City hospital and those in Medina, Green, Barberton and Wadsworth is U.S. Acute Care Solutions of Canton. According to the Beacon Journal, the CEO of that group is Dr. Dominic Bagnoli, who is married to Summa's Chief medical Officer Dr. Vivian von Gruenigen.
