Sen. Grassley questions Ascension’s use of private equity-controlled staffing firm
The not-for-profit hospital group will get physicians from SCP Health as well as nurses and physician assistants.
Sen. Charles Grassley is asking Ascension, a not-for-profit hospital group, whether its move to get physicians from an outside staffing firm will hurt the patients.
The Iowa Republican sent an Ascension executive a letter questioning Ascension’s decision to use SCP Health to supply “hospitalists,” or physicians who specialize in caring for hospital inpatients, as well as nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
Ascension is a St. Louis-based organization that operates 140 hospitals in 19 states. It recently suffered a major cyberattack.
SCP Health is a for-profit, Atlanta-based company that’s controlled by Onex Corp., a private equity firm with headquarters in Toronto.
“Whistleblowers have provided disclosures to my office with respect to proposed changes to staffing and procedures if SCP Health assumes control and the hospitalist function is outsourced,” Grassley writes in the letter.
“If executed, these models could affect the patients’ quality of care, increase health care workers’ loads to unsustainable levels, and could raise questions on whether proper internal controls are in place with regards to protecting patient information and ensuring billing accuracy,” Grassley adds.
He notes that Ascension has non-profit tax status.
He cites predictions from records provided to his office that SCP would increase the number of patients a hospitalist sees in a day to somewhere between 22 and 30, from a typical load of 16 to 19 patients per day today.
Grassley says he was told that the hospitalists might have to approve care recommended and provided by the nurse practitioners and physician assistants without examining the patients.
“This seems incredibly unsafe,” Grassley says.
Related: Provider supply can stretch
Grassley is the longest-serving member of the Senate. He is the highest-ranking on the Senate Budget Committee.
Ascension said in a statement that delivering compassionate care is at the center of what it does.
“On June 1, 2024, SCP Health, a clinical services provider for emergency medicine, hospital medicine and critical care, began providing hospitalist care for our acute hospitals utilizing the majority of providers currently serving in these facilities,” the company said. “We received Senator Grassley’s letter, and look forward to sharing information on how our arrangement with SCP Health will serve our patients, our community and our Mission.”