Four primary care practices in southern New Jersey are being “abruptly” closed by Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s physician practice arm, the Pine Barrens Tribune reported Nov. 20.
One of the physicians at a closing practice in Medford, N.J., John Hickey, MD, told the Tribune that both physicians and patients were “virtually uninformed” of the closure, which takes effect Nov. 26. He added that Optum, which purchased the practice three years ago, has provided no mechanisms for patient care continuity in what amount to “almost morally reprehensible” circumstances.
Dr. Hickey is one of three physicians who sold their primary care and internal medicine practice to Jersey City, N.J.-based Riverside Medical Group in 2018. Riverside then sold the practice to Optum three years ago.
He told the Tribune that he and his colleagues “built this practice over the course of 40 years, and in 30 days, they burned it to the ground.” He had previously shared his plans to retire this month with the Tribune, but said that he had never envisioned that it would be during the present circumstances.
He further said that he had been told that Optum was retaining a “replacement provider” for his retirement. However, Dr. Hickey’s team had no template for the new physician who was to join the practice in October and had not heard anything from Optum about her alleged hiring. Then, when a physician assistant contacted Optum, the company responded that there would be no replacement physicians.
“So, they never really contacted us directly until we actually asked them about it,” Dr. Hickey told the Tribune.
Without the added physician, Dr. Hickey’s practice was understaffed, leaving him as the only full-time physician and his planned retirement approaching.
In a particularly upsetting incident leading up to the closure announcement, Dr. Hickey said that he had actually recruited an endocrinologist for the practice. That physician had gone as far as to purportedly sign a contract with Optum and close her own concierge medicine practice, but was told by Optum 30 days prior to her start date that it was in a hiring freeze and that she no longer had a position with the company.
This incident, combined with the lack of a replacement physician, led Dr. Hickey to ask Optum outright whether it was planning to close his practice or consolidate it. Despite pleading for the company to inform him of what direction they were taking with his practice, Optum never responded, Dr. Hickey said.
Dr. Hickey told the Tribune that Optum emailed his staff Oct. 31 announcing that the office would be closed in 30 days.
Dr. Hickey added that since the closure announcement, there has been no guidance from Optum. As of Nov. 20, Dr. Hickey had not received any communication from Optum regarding what will happen to the practice after the planned closure date, or if he will have any access to patient records to assist in their transitions to other practices.
The “lack of guidance,” he said, has been “‘horrifically unprofessional” and “uncaring.” He also noted that in announcing his retirement earlier this year, he had specifically given Optum a 90-day notice in order to allow an appropriate amount of time to onboard a new provider or reorganize the practice.
In a statement, Optum told Becker’s that it is “committing to delivering high-quality, affordable care to the patients and communities we serve; however, recent cuts in health care funding have required difficult decisions and changes to our business. Our priority is to support patients through this transition and ensure they continue receiving the care they need.”
The spokesperson added that Optum’s “nursing teams are working to ensure prescriptions get refilled, test results get addressed promptly and follow-up care is proactively scheduled when needed.”
“Our priority is to support patients through this transition and ensure they continue receiving the care they need,” they said.
Dr. Hickey estimates that some 1,000 patients will be impacted by the sudden closure of his practice.
