Detroit-based Wayne State University sent termination notices to 110 pediatricians on Oct. 14. The pediatricians, who work for the university's medical school and Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, can either join WSU's pediatrics group or lose their jobs with the university in November, according to The Detroit News.
The move comes after University Pediatricians, the physicians' practice group, began a new partnership with Central Michigan University earlier this year and stopped paying WSU funds it uses to pay the physicians' salaries. University Pediatricians owes WSU nearly $18 million, according to the report.
"We very much regret the necessity of taking this measure, but we are afraid we have no option, due to the failure of University Pediatricians, PC to fulfill its financial obligation on your behalf," reads the letter, signed by Herman Gray, MD, chair of WSU's pediatrics department, and Jack Sobel, MD, dean of the WSU School of Medicine, according to the report.
If University Physicians fails to pay the debt WSU says it is owed by Oct. 30, the university will terminate the pediatricians Nov. 18.
Dr. Gray told The Detroit News that the dispute between WSU and University Pediatricians, which has lasted for three years, is detracting from the university's core mission.
University Pediatricians President Mary Lu Angelilli, MD, called the university's move "disappointing" in a letter sent to pediatricians Oct. 15, according to The Detroit News.
"Each of you have given tirelessly over decades serving as their Department of Pediatrics and you certainly did not deserve the lack of care and disrespect that these letters cast upon you," Dr. Angelilli wrote. "UP will not allow its membership to suffer as a result of WSU's reckless actions."
Access the full article from The Detroit News here.
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