A Wisconsin radiology practice is suing hospital giant Ascension after the company switched to an out-of-state imaging services provider earlier this year.
Milwaukee Radiologists Ltd. recently filed its claim against the Catholic health system in the local circuit court. Leaders are seeking a binding judgment against Ascension Wisconsin and its predecessor Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported Monday.
The Greenfield-based provider—around since 1969, employing 19 physicians—claims that a new joint-venture agreement signed by Ascension earlier this year violates its contract with Milwaukee Radiologists. Rather than immediately switching to a new deal with Premier Radiology in Nashville, the local practice alleges Ascension was supposed to execute a staggered, multi-year phase-out of their relationship through 2026.
It was back in February that Ascension first announced its new imaging partnership with Premier. At the time, the two said they had already opened a freestanding imaging center in the town of Mount Pleasant, and more were in the works in Milwaukee, Glendale, Franklin, Wauwatosa and Brown Deer.
The lawsuit specifically alleges that opening centers in the latter two Milwaukee suburbs violates Ascension’s past agreement with its local partner. On the flipside, the hospital group believes it can terminate those deals because Ascension is transitioning those sites from hospital outpatient departments to independent, freestanding imaging centers.
Ascension Wisconsin includes 24 hospital campuses altogether and is part of the much larger, St. Louis-based organization with 150 hospitals in 20 states and the District of Columbia. It declined to comment on the suit when reached by the Milwaukee Business Journal. Back in February, Premier said it would offer Ascension access to more than 90 board-certified radiologists through its relationships with both Radiology Partners and Advanced Diagnostic Imaging.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.