Improving oncology care in our community
One hundred and 34 — that’s the number of years our nine doctors have had the honor to provide oncology care to Anne Arundel County and surrounding areas. During that time, we’ve had the privilege of treating your loved ones, neighbors and friends. Since our start in the 1980s, the well-being of our patients has always been our top priority.
We’ve had the privilege to bring remarkable cancer care advances to our patients, gratefully having the ability to cure or significantly control disease while improving quality of life. However, we have also seen increased complexity of care and health care costs, causing significant stress on cancer care in Maryland.
Seeking better care for our patients, we evaluated the option to return to our role as community-practice oncologists. We proposed continuing to work with Anne Arundel Medical Center and Luminis Health. We proposed bringing many resources to improve cancer care at the hospital and in our area.
Our goal was never, as Tod Reinecker, the health system’s attorney, says, “to pursue lucrative contracts.” Nor did we believe, that the health system “would be unable to recruit new physicians and be forced to continue to use [our] services.” We have not blocked AAMCs cancer care plans. Our patients can confirm that we continue to use outpatient services at AAMC and collaborate with hospital-affiliated colleagues.
Our considerations led us to propose to provide care as community-based oncologists rather than as hospital-employed oncologists. We proposed this option, hoping to improve and provide sustainable state-of-the-art cancer care. We sought open dialogue with AAMC and Luminis.
In response from Luminis, we each received a letter terminating our employment on Oct. 22. AAMC subsequently blocked our requests for hospital privileges. Hospital privileges are required by AAMC to allow any physician to provide direct inpatient care to patients hospitalized at AAMC.
We have resumed our service as community physicians, beginning Oct 23, joining Maryland Oncology Hematology. Maryland Oncology Hematology is a community-based practice, entirely owned and run by Maryland physicians. As Maryland Oncology Hematology physicians, we are devoted to providing the very best, state-of-the-art patient care for hematology and oncology. Maryland Oncology Hematology is not owned by another company, or as the hospital inaccurately states a “major pharmaceutical distribution company.”
Our decision to join Maryland Oncology Hematology has never been about “pursuing lucrative contracts” as inaccurately communicated by the hospital in the Feb. 18 article. We have put our careers and ability to financially support our families on the line in order to establish what we consider, a superior care option for our patients and community.
We are very excited to now be part of this highly respected community-based private practice. We look forward to working with world-class hospitals with incredible resources and colleagues, such as the University of Maryland Medical System (including Baltimore Washington Medical Center, which is welcoming us with hospital inpatient privileges), Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Mercy Medical Center.
While it is the sole decision of AAMC to block us from providing direct inpatient care, we still work with our talented community medical colleagues, continuing to provide access to AAMC outpatient services.
Our doctors, wonderful nurses and office staff are devoted to and work on behalf of your community for the benefit of patients. We are now able to deliver state-of-the-art care and remarkable treatments in our outpatient center that is safe, modern, convenient, responsive to patient feedback and available in your community.
We welcome the privilege to continue to bring the best care to every one of our patients as our highest priority.