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Former Atrium Anesthesiology Provider Files Layoff Notice

Atrium Health
Atrium Health

At least 151 employees of Atrium Health’s previous anesthesiology provider are at risk of being laid off. This comes after a long, bitter public battle between the health system and the doctors' group. 

Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants (SAC), a subsidiary of the national doctors' company Mednax, filed the notice to the North Carolina Commerce Department in keeping with the law which requires businesses that have at least 100 employees to announce when they are planning mass layoffs.  

SAC said in a statement it doesn’t know exactly how many of those 151 people will actually lose their jobs, but it will be a significant number. The company said 90 doctors are likely to be impacted along with a combination of administrative staff and nurses. Because the company still has other contracts in the region, SAC said it will keep a small number of employees.

A judge’s order prevents Atrium’s new anesthesiology contractor, Scope Anesthesia of North Carolina, from hiring any of the laid-off employees. SAC doctors had been working at Atrium for nearly four decades. But the relationship went south earlier this year after a contract dispute which ended up in court. SAC is accusing the new doctors' group, Scope, of using confidential company information to get the contract with Atrium. Scope took over for SAC at Atrium facilities Sunday.