Valley Children's Hospital in Madera, Calif., is suing three pediatric pulmonologists for allegedly trying to steer patients to Fresno, Calif.-based University Pediatric Specialists, a rival medical group, according to the Fresno Bee.
The children's hospital and its affiliated Valley Children's Specialty Medical Group filed a lawsuit against John Moua, MD, Paul Do, MD, and David Lee, MD. The lawsuit also names University Pediatric Specialists and Central California Medical Group. The three physicians currently belong to University Pediatric Specialists, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Central California Faculty Medical Group, according to the report. The physicians are faculty members at UCSF-Fresno.
In the complaint filed Sept. 22 in Fresno County Superior Court, Valley Children's alleges the physicians accessed cystic fibrosis patient records from computers at the hospital and specialty medical group in late August "for personal gain and commercial advantage," according to the report. It claims Drs. Do and Moua were "seeking to misappropriate patients" and their confidential health information from the hospital and medical group.
The lawsuit alleges the three physicians had Spanish-speaking interpreters make false and misleading statements about Valley Children's cystic fibrosis center to families of some cystic fibrosis patients. The families were told the center is understaffed, closed or closing and could no longer provide high-quality care, according to the lawsuit. They were also allegedly told staff and physicians had left to work at University Pediatric Specialists and patients should move their records to the new group, according to the report.
The faculty medical group said contacting patients to inform them of a physician's new practice and location is the physician's right.
The physicians in questions did not respond to calls from the Fresno Bee, but Central California Faculty Medical Group released an email statement saying the physicians did nothing wrong, according to the report.
Valley Children's disagrees, calling the physicians' actions a "significant data breach" and violation of HIPAA. Records of at least 164 patients were accessed by the physicians, according to Michael Goldring, Valley Children's interim chief legal officer and administrative officer. He would not say how many patients had requested their medical files be transferred to University Pediatric Specialists.