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Published: October 3, 2008
On Tuesday, one of the few doctors in the area who serves underinsured patients received a letter from Danville Regional Medical Center informing him that after 14 years, his services were no longer required. Two days later, he officially lost his job.
“I wish I could say I understand it,” Dr. Phillip Hale said Thursday. “It seems to be driven by (the hospital’s) bottom line mentality without really looking at the big picture.”
Hale said Family Healthcare Center on Piney Forest Road where he practiced was losing money and he believes that led to the termination of his contract.
But as one of the only practices in Danville open to Medicaid patients, Hale said he feels it is a necessary community asset.
Most private practices don’t accept Medicaid patients because the payout doctors receive from those patients is “very small,” Hale said.
He said the center could only operate because of the effective subsidy from the hospital.
Danville Regional Medical Center declined to comment on why they decided to fire Hale or whether or not they anticipate any more cutbacks.
“At Danville Regional Medical Center, we value all of our patients and want to assure them they will continue to receive high-quality care at the Family Healthcare Center,” Leslie Smith, director of marketing and community relations for Danville Regional, said in a written response. “Patients will continue to be seen by a physician and nurse practitioner.”
When Danville Regional was a not-for profit hospital, it didn’t seem to have a problem with the arrangement, Hale said. It was after it was sold to LifePoint Hospitals Inc. in 2005, the changes started coming, he said.
“A clerk here, a nurse there,” Hale said.
Hale believes the financial changes didn’t just stop with hirings and firings.
Hale said since he focused on preventative care with most of his Medicaid patients, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing for the hospital’s revenue intake.
“If I took care of their blood pressure and sugar, they wouldn’t be going to the emergency room,” Hale said. “They wouldn’t be getting sick enough to be admitted to the hospital.
“When we do that, the hospital actually loses more money.”
Hale said because so many doctors have recently left the area, he’s pretty sure he’ll be able to find another job. Still, he’s quite dismayed by Danville Regional’s decision.
“I think it goes back to when the decision was made to sell to a for-profit hospital,” Hale said. “The writing was on the wall then.”
Contact Sarah Arkin at or (434) 791-7983.
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Reader Reactions
The same thing happened to me. I was an Urgent Care physician in the central Michigan area. After 26 years working for the same hospital, I was abruptly terminated with no warning because the Urgent Care was losing money, primarily due to poor Medicaid reimbursement and decreasing volumes due to the economic downturn in Michigan. The hospital administration decided to staff the facility solely with physician assistants and basically eliminated my job. This occurred 4 years after the same administrator talked me into leaving my family practice of 22 years and working for the facility’s urgent care practice. After I left my family practice, I was replaced with another family physician, so now I have nowhere to go in my hometown of the past 40 years.
The whole concept of withholding medical care from anyone who needs it obscene. Medical care should not be a privilige based on a class/caste system. Medical care is a necessity, not a luxury! Having money or insurance does not make you more deserving of treatment.
As a former employee of the same practice, I feel Dr. Hale’s pain. I, too, was let go with no notice whatsoever and was treated with an utter lack of respect in the whole process. Dr. Hale was a very pleasant and intelligent doctor who deserved a lot more than he got from DRMC. He will be better off, as will every other employee who should voluntarily decide to leave that place of employment.
It’s just ashame! The hospital cares more about profits than the care of patients. We need thorough doctors like Dr. Hale here in Danville. I always found that the Family Healthcare Center has provided excellent care. His dismissal will be a great loss to their facility. Dr. Hale, you wilil be blessed by God after it’s all said and done.
This is just another reason not to to to Danville Regional. I’ll drive to Eden, NC rather than go the hospital in Danville. Been there…sat in the waiting room for 4 hours….finally got called to the back….sat there for another 3 hours. Saw the “doctor” for 3 minutes. Problem not resolved. Bill….$891.00. Never again.
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