Detroit Community Leaders Protest DMC’s Plans to Divest 11 Clinics

A group of 12 community leaders on Oct. 4 joined together to protest the Detroit Medical Center's plan to end its ownership of 11 outpatient clinics, expressing concern that the plan could compromise access to care for Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries, the Detroit Free Press reports. The group, speaking at a news conference in Detroit, requested that DMC reconsider its plans. However, the Free Press reports that the group's opposition was largely based on the false notion that the DMC plans to close the clinics, nine of which are in Detroit. DMC CEO Arthur Porter said in a memo to employees last week that DMC will sell the clinics to private owners, "most likely" physicians or physician groups. The DMC is ending ownership of the clinics as part of a plan to cut costs, after losing about $23 million in the first half of 2002. According to Tom Malone, senior vice president of managed care for DMC, a "number of physicians" have expressed interest in owning the clinics, and more than a dozen investors and lenders have said they would consider underwriting the sales. Still, Detroit Medical Society President Dr. Lonnie Joe said, "Giving these clinics to private industry also is unacceptable. Private industry is not not-for-profit." According to the Free-Press, advocates for Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries worry that privately owned clinics would not want to serve a large number of Medicaid or Medicare beneficiaries because of "inadequate" government reimbursements. About 45% of current patients at DMC's clinics are covered by Medicaid or Medicare. DMC Chief Financial Officer Nick Vitale said he expects the clinics to continue to serve Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries even if they become privately owned (Norris, Detroit Free Press, 10/5).