Hospital systems at odds over 'poaching' physicians

Competition between nonprofit hospital systems for cardiologists and other specialty physicians is inflating healthcare costs and isn't always in the community's best interest, OhioHealth CEO David Blom said last week. OhioHealth is especially sensitive to the issue, having lost 21 cardiologists over the past six years, according to an official there. Most recently, eight independent cardiologists, who make up Heart Specialists of Ohio, went to work for Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center. They had been affiliated with OhioHealth's Riverside Methodist Hospital; seven of them had contracts to operate OhioHealth’s cardiology practice in Springfield.