SCHENECTADY — Ellis Medicine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against St. Peter’s Health Partners, accusing the Catholic health system of blocking its access to a Schenectady cardiology practice.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state Supreme Court in Schenectady County, comes less than two months after the two healthcare organizations scuttled a long-planned merger. It alleges that St. Peter’s forced 27 physicians at Cardiology Associates of Schenectady to sign contracts with noncompete clauses barring them from working for Ellis for one year, in violation of previous agreements between the hospitals.
Ellis said the new contracts, if enforced, would thwart its ability to provide cardiology care and prevent the doctors from “providing services to their existing patients and to the population of Schenectady.”…