Atrium Health Amends Countersuit to Mednax Due to Continued False Fear-based Ad Campaign
- "On
April 26, 2018 , financial news outletCNBC ran a televised segment and accompanying website article reporting that short-sellerJim Chanos had taken a formidable short position inMednax stock. Chanos, who is a "research intensive short-seller," is known for his accurate forecast of Enron's collapse. …Chanos explained thatMednax's business model of acquiring physician practices then hiring physicians back at below market compensation could not last beyond a short-term post-acquisition agreement with physicians." - "…having closely examined information concerning
Mednax , including facts revealed inMednax's litigation in [the North Carolina Business] Court, Chanos said his firm was "betting these companies [Mednax and Envision Healthcare] might be worth nothing.Mednax stock plummeted more than 11% that same day, capping one of the worst-performing periods for any healthcare stock in this country." - "Reeling from the precipitous drop in its share price, on
May 1, 2018 ,Mednax was forced to hold an investor call a week earlier than planned. During that call,Mednax and its CEO,Roger Medel , continued to put forward misleading statements about the facts of this case ostensibly to obscure the reality thatMednax's flawed business model had been exposed and to mislead investors to believe thatMednax's situation was not as desperate as it actually is." - "…Medel repeated the falsehoods contained in
Mednax's smear campaign againstAtrium Health , falsely portraying to investors what it has falsely portrayed to this community, that the primary reasonMednax affiliate SAC did not enter a new agreement withAtrium Health was thatAtrium Health "planned to adopt new staffing patterns that would reduce the number of physicians providing services, and in some cases have facilities with no physician anesthesiologist presence." As detailed in the Counterclaims…,Atrium Health has not "planned to adopt new staffing patterns" at all, let alone asMednax has described. These statements byMednax are misrepresentations intended to foster fear, poison the public mindset and pressureAtrium Health to the bargaining table." - "
Mednax's public, misleading statements and its smear campaign againstAtrium Health are unprecedented in the healthcare industry. Although it is supposed to be a healthcare entity providing physician services, and proclaims it is "Led by Physicians,"Mednax has been unconstrained by medical ethics and standards of conduct and has shown it will do or say virtually anything, no matter how untrue, detestable, or contrary to sworn commitments of medical providers, to try to force a business deal withAtrium Health that it lost in fair competition with others." - "
Mednax's new attacks also target doctors who are joining Scope. Notwithstanding the ethical rules of theNorth Carolina Medical Board , theAmerican Medical Association , and theAmerican College of Anesthesia that prohibit such conduct,Mednax's ads overtly attempt, without any basis in fact, to sow doubts inAtrium Health's patients' minds about the capabilities and experience of Scope physicians. A recentMednax ad expressly directed patients to reconsider having procedures done atAtrium Health because "new doctors" will be in the operating room, which might lead to something "go[ing] wrong." These actions are desperate, deplorable, and unbecoming of professionals who are supposed to be committed to the greater good of our communities."
For months,
When making business decisions, such as changing anesthesia services partners,
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