Inspire Health Medical Group has agreed to pay a $1.2 million settlement to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Calif., after neurosurgeons allegedly planned a walkout in 2021 and gave the system less than 32 hours' notice.
Community Regional sued Inspire, formerly known as Central California Faculty Medical Group, alleging that the physician group withheld "lifesaving" neurosurgical trauma care "in an attempt to secure leverage over" the health system.
Community Regional alleged that Inspire planned its neurosurgery walkout for several weeks and gave it insufficient time to find replacement neurosurgeons, putting its level I trauma center at risk. The system claims that Inspire's goal was to strip it of its level I trauma center designation to gain negotiating leverage over unrelated contract negotiations.
The neurosurgeon walkout forced the hospital to transfer critical neuro patients out of Fresno for neurosurgical specialty care and to urgently locate replacement neurosurgeons.
"While the $1.2 million settlement CCFMG will pay does not fully address the disruption caused by the unprecedented neurosurgeon walkout, it does reinforce that business disputes should never impact patient care and the health of our community," Community Regional COO Craig Wagoner said in a statement shared with Becker's. "Our hope is that CCFMG will work with us to ensure that abrupt interruption of patient care never happens again. By putting this unfortunate dispute behind us, we hope to repair the relationship with CCFMG that Community has had for decades and focus on providing the best possible care for the Central Valley."
Inspire did not respond to Becker's request for comment.