Saqib Naseer, MD, partner at Manchester, Conn.-based New England Cardiology Associates, who has been caring for patients at Manchester Memorial Hospital, claims he and three other area practices have been waiting for months to get paid by the hospital’s owner, private-equity firm Prospect Medical Holdings, according to an Oct. 4 report from The Connecticut Mirror.
"Every group — the payments were delayed by several months," Dr. Naseer told the Mirror. "We hired an attorney, he has been trying to help us with the payments. We are still usually delayed by two [to] three months even now."
Manchester Memorial Hospital does not "comment on private business matters," it told the Mirror in a statement.
Manchester Memorial is one of three Connecticut hospitals owned by Prospect. The hospitals are currently stuck in a sale deal to Yale New Haven Health, which sued Prospect to back out of the $435 million deal, alleging mismanagement, and Prospect countersued earlier this year.
State investigations at Manchester Memorial and Waterbury Hospital, also owned by Prospect, allegedly discovered patterns of patient abuse and a failure by hospital staff to conduct timely investigations in accordance with hospital policy.
Waterbury Hospital has also experienced ongoing staffing issues, which continue to affect patients and staff.
Dr. Naseer told the Mirror that his colleagues in a different medical group at the hospital, Northeastern Pulmonary Associates, also have been working without pay at the hospital for several months.
Prospect alleges that physicians working on contract at Manchester left the system for other reasons, not over financial disputes.