Baptist wins tug of war over doctors

Gets bulk of Family Physicians Group

Memphis’ two major hospitals have squared off for months to attract the 13 doctors of Family Physician Group to their systems.

Now, it looks like the score- card is complete. Baptist gets seven physicians as well as all the offices and administrative staff. Methodist gets six doctors and a handful of employees.

The scrap for doctors reflects an unusual twist in the medical turf wars going on in Memphis. Hospitals in the city and throughout the nation are part- nering with physicians, part of the health care changes being ushered in by federal reforms.

But Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. faced a fight. The hospital thought it had the deal lined up to sign all the physicians. Then, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare made a latehour bid for some of the doctors.

It’s an unusual wrinkle in the turf wars, but Methodist managed to woo away six physicians.

Baptist still thinks it may have won the bulk of the practice by securing the seven doctors. Baptist officials predicted Thursday afternoon that Family Physicians Group would vote to seal the alignment deal in a board meeting Thursday night closed to the public.

According to Baptist Memorial Medical Group CEO Jim Boswell, six of the practice’s original 13 physicians would not be party to the deal and would depart Family Physicians Group altogether.

Family Physicians originally signed a letter of intent to join Methodist’s physician group last year, Boswell said. It pulled away after six months and called to join Baptist, which promptly began drawing up its deal.

“Rather than respecting

the group’s right to that choice, Methodist began to disrupt the clinic, disrupting the organization by making additional hires and approaching groups of physicians and employees ... and offered them incentives to make the move (to Methodist),” Boswell said.

A Methodist official acknowledged that the system has been in talks with Family Physicians Group “for a number of months.”

“Everyone there has had an opportunity to look closely at both health care systems,” Donna Abney, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare executive vice president, said through a spokesman. “We are honored to have the physicians and staff who chose the Methodist Healthcare family.”

Baptist officials said seven doctors will remain: Drs. Charles Woodall, Melanie Woodall, Michele Neil, Ramune Filipcic, Jay D. Smith, Kenny Wong and Michael Wallace.

The group will retain its current administration, locations, hours and contact information and practice under the new name, BMG Family Physicians Group Foundation.

Baptist has recruited three new doctors into the group and three nurse practitioners, and it now has 119 employees.

Comparing Baptist’s list and those listed with the practice in the Memphis Medical Society’s 2012 membership directory shows the physicians no longer with the group are Drs. Tina K. Burns, Preston G. Givens, Lee W. McCallum, Calvin Jeff Mullins, Aparna K. Murti and R. Michael Nollner.