TOWN OF WALLKILL – Crystal Run Healthcare officials have apparently been threatening and treating their doctors in an unethical manner in the way they are handling the proposed merger of the healthcare partnership with Montefiore Medical Center, contends the president of a regional hospital group.
A number of those Crystal Run partner physicians have filed lawsuits against the management, contending they are being forced to sign new agreements, that among other things, change their status from partner to employee and that they could be sent to other areas to practice.
Scott Batulis, the president of Greater Hudson Valley Health System, the umbrella organization that owns Orange Regional and Catskill Regional medical centers, sent a memo to staff, doctors and board members on Tuesday, saying Crystal Run docs are “highly trained and skilled professionals dedicated to serving their patients’ needed; [and] we believe they should be employed ethically and with the respect they deserve.”
Batulis wrote in the memo obtained by Mid-Hudson News that “we also believe that their patients should be treated whenever possible in their own community, rather than forced to obtain care at a hospital in New York City or elsewhere.”
He said Greater Hudson Valley Health System “will monitor this situation closely and, as opportunities arise, will assist Crystal Run Healthcare physicians to continue practicing in our community.” Batulis said that “will further our goal of ensuring that patients in our service area receive excellent care in a supportive environment close to home.”
