Emergency physicians go unpaid at California hospital

Emergency department physicians at Daly City, Calif.-based Seton Medical Center, part of Alhambra, Calif.-based AMHC Healthcare, have gone unpaid due to the hospital's contractor, NES Health, not providing payment, a spokesperson for Seton told Becker's.

NES Health is a physician-led organization that specializes in outsourced hospital management solutions and emergency physician staffing.

The ED physicians have not received pay for around two and a half months, The Daily Journal reported Nov. 13. 

Seton's contract with NES Health expires Nov. 30, but the hospital is working to obtain an agreement with a new contractor, Vituity, by Nov. 18.

"In the interim, Seton Medical Center has entered into agreements to ensure continuity of emergency medicine physician coverage until the new contractor is in place," a Seton spokesperson said in a Nov. 14 statement shared with Becker's

The hospital spokesperson did not provide the number of physicians affected, but confirmed that patient care has not been disrupted. 

Earlier in November, MedPage Today reported that NES Health saw a "temporary shortfall in monthly revenue," which was cited as the reason that Seton ED physicians were not receiving pay. 

While the company hoped to bridge the financial shortfall with a loan, the loan did not come in time for payroll. NES Health plans to instead make partial weekly payroll payments until its regular payroll can get back on track, the report said. 

"There are some angry doctors out there because they haven’t been getting paid, but that is not the fault of AHMC/Seton or any of the 30 hospitals nationwide that contract with NES emergency physicians," David Canepa, San Mateo (Calif.) County board of supervisors vice president, said in a statement shared with Becker's

Becker's has reached out to NES Health for comment and will update this story should more information become available. 

Editor's note: This story was updated Nov. 14 at 4:45 p.m. CT.

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