The turmoil continues within Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health System's emergency rooms after its emergency medicine residency program was placed on immediate probation by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education, according to a report from the Akron Beacon Journal.
The news comes after health system leadership switched ER physician groups at the New Year with little notice. The controversial switch ended a contract with longtime partner Summa Emergency Associates and began another with US Acute Care Solutions, a national emergency medicine group. The controversial switch put stress on physician-administration relations at the health system, and ultimately Summa Health CEO Thomas Malone, MD, elected to resign in late January.
Now the system's emergency medicine residency program — which was one of the best in the country, Jeff Wright, MD, president of Summa Emergency Associates, told the Akron Beacon Journal — could lose its accreditation July 1, according to the report. The health system plans to appeal the decision within the next 30 days, Summa Health COO Valerie Gibson wrote in an internal memo, according to the report. In the meantime, Summa is barred from launching new residencies and growing existing programs.
Residents in their third and final year of the program may finish their training, but first and second year residents must find another hospital, according to the report.
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