An Arizona hospital recently had to pause breast imaging services for a month after radiologists at its partner practice resigned due to alleged poor working conditions.
Verde Valley Medical Center first resumed mammography and other exams at its breast clinic on July 24. The temporary suspension came after four fellowship-trained breast specialists at Northern Arizona Radiology quit their posts.
Back in 2018, the Cottonwood, Arizona, regional hospital grappled with controversies over missed cancers on mammograms, the Arizona Daily Sun reported Thursday. Leaders at the hospital’s parent organization, Northern Arizona Healthcare, had reportedly urged the contracted radiology group to hire breast specialists to pore over old mammograms. The leaders sought to ensure that no further cancers were missed, a move that created friction among the organizations.
“I'm not necessarily sure it was the right thing to have done in retrospect,” Derek Feuquay, MD, an internal medicine specialist and chief medical officer of Northern Arizona Healthcare, told the newspaper. “I think it was a really great move—to tell everyone in Cottonwood and Verde Valley that after this event occurred, this is what we are doing. But we are working outside what the national standards are, which is why [Northern Arizona Radiology] is having a hard time filling the spots, because there just aren't enough providers to do it nationwide, especially in a smaller area like this.”
Breast radiologist Kimberly Winsor, MD, estimated that she was regularly working 18 to 20 hours a day and felt she was being asked to “cut corners.” She resigned in March 2022, with Northern Arizona Radiology’s three other fellowship-trained specialists doing the same by June 2023.
“Ultimately, what this entire thing created was a tense relationship between the radiology group and the breast radiologists,” Winsor told the publication. “They felt like it was a witch hunt. We worked for them, but they wouldn’t provide us with the necessary resources. It was a terrible work environment.”
Flagstaff-based Northern Arizona Radiology reportedly has since been able to bring aboard temporary fellowship-trained physicians via a staffing firm, allowing breast imaging to resume at Verde Valley Medical Center. The practice did not respond to the publication’s requests for comment.
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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.