Patricia Cole, MD, and her seven partners joined Mercy Clinic, part of Chesterfield, Mo.-based Mercy, in 2010 when the medical center acquired their practice, Heart Health Center, which was previously affiliated with Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis.
Dr. Cole said Mercy Clinic is in the process of drafting up a new nationwide contract for cardiologists and asked Dr. Cole and her partners to break their existing contract a year and a half early to sign the new contract. The physicians declined.
“So we were terminated as of May 31, 2015,” Dr. Cole said in the report. She declined to specify what the points of contention were with the new contract, saying each physician has different reasons for leaving.
The cardiologists plan to set up private practice when their contract with Mercy Clinic ends next spring. The name and location of the group has not yet been determined, according to the report.
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