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Judge Dismisses AAEM Lawsuit Against TeamHealth
The Decision
In what is being considered an important decision in a widely publicized case, the judge in the case of The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) and Humble Emergency Physicians, P.A. (HEPPA) v. Memorial Hermann Healthcare System (MHHS), TeamHealth, and ACS Primary Care Physicians Southwest, P.A. sided with the defendants TeamHealth, ACS and MHHS by ordering that the case be dismissed with prejudice as to all defendants as to all claims made by AAEM.
Background
In June 2007, ACS, a TeamHealth-affiliated medical group, was selected by the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston, Texas, to provide emergency department staffing and management services for eight of the system’s suburban hospitals. Prior to TeamHealth being awarded this contract, HEPPA provided the emergency department staffing services to Northeast Medical Center Hospital in Humble, Texas—one of MHHS’s hospitals.
On August 30, 2007, AAEM and HEPPA filed a petition in Harris County, Texas, District Court claiming that, through the new emergency department contracting arrangement, the defendants were engaging in the corporate practice of medicine, which is prohibited in the state of Texas. The plaintiffs sought redress from the Harris County District Court, seeking to block the transition of the eight MHHS emergency department contracts to TeamHealth.
Upon reviewing the plaintiffs’ allegations and the defendants’ respective responses, the Harris County District Court judge ordered that “the case is dismissed as to all Defendants as to the declaratory judgment claim and as to all other claims made by AAEM, with prejudice.”
TeamHealth Response
"As we have said many times, the allegation that TeamHealth engages in the corporate practice of medicine is completely without merit,” states Lynn Massingale, MD, FACEP, founder and CEO of TeamHealth. “Eight million times a year, a TeamHealth-affiliated physician interacts with a patient in the emergency department. All the decisions that physician makes with regard to the care of that patient are based upon his or her own experience and judgment. Our goal is to make sure the physicians are equipped with the latest information and resources so they can make the best decisions for their patients."