MERCY HEALTHCARE: Buoyed By FPA Bankruptcy
"Mercy Healthcare Sacramento appears to be the biggest winner in the shake-out following last [month's] bankruptcy of FPA Medical Management Inc.," the Sacramento Business Journal reports. Twenty-seven of FPA's primary care doctors have "formed a group of their own" -- the Greater Sacramento Medical Group Inc. -- and seven other physicians "are pursuing other options." The newly formed group plans to affiliate with Mercy, meaning that "all of the group's 55,000 patients would go to Mercy hospitals" in what the Business Journal calls a "coup for Mercy." Mercy CEO Michael Erne said, "The new association will allow Mercy the opportunity to expand our primary care network in Sacramento. We believe this relationship with the new medical group ... will allow us to grow our market share in the future."
Pickin' Up The PiecesTwo other doctor's groups -- Sutter Independent Physicians and Hill Physicians Medical Group -- "also are gaining market share because of the bankruptcy," the Journal reports. Sixty-eight doctors who were in FPA's independent physicians association are "being divided" between the Sutter and Hill medical groups. Sutter could get up to 8,000 new patients, while Hill could get as many as 10,000 (Robertson, 8/3 issue).
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