The accusations were made in letters sent to hundreds of area doctors about the joint venture, which involves taking over Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital, changing its name to Summa Western Reserve Hospital and eventually building a replacement hospital.
“Physician investors are now actively steering patients away from Akron General to this for-profit competitor,” the letters state. “Regional competitors are aggressively trying to recruit loyal Akron General physicians into their systems. They have gained market share by acquiring small hospitals and buying physicians’ practices.”
In response to the charge of steering patients, which would be a violation of the Medicare anti-kickback law, a spokesman for Summa said the physician-investors are “all following the letter of the law in regard to what the regulations are.”
Read the Akron Beacon Journal’s report on the new Summa Western Reserve Hospital.
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