WORCESTER, Mass.—In a move to prod Tenet Healthcare Corp., owner of Worcester Medical Center, to settle the nurses strike, Fallon Community Health Plan yesterday said it will start sending some day-surgery patients to Worcester Surgical Center instead of to the new medical center.

Fallon spokesman Richard P. Burke said the decision to take what he called a "significant portion" of its day surgery business away from the strike-bound medical center was another step in the health maintenance organization's effort to encourage Tenet to resolve the strike.

Mr. Burke said the agreement with the privately owned surgical center at 300 Grove St. was also necessitated by difficulties that Fallon physicians have had scheduling outpatient surgical procedures at the medical center since the strike began March 31.

He declined to estimate the economic impact of Fallon's decision on the medical center, but said the agreement with the surgical center could be "quite sizable."

Fallon's announcement comes a week after a plea by Eric Schultz, president and chief executive of Fallon, for Jeffrey C. Barbakow, Tenet chief executive, to become directly involved in the strike negotiations.

Mr. Burke said yesterday that, to his knowledge, Mr. Barbakow had not responded to Mr. Schultz's request.

Paula L. Green, Worcester Medical Center spokeswoman, said the hospital's management was "surprised and shocked" at Fallon's move.

"No one is trying harder than we are to settle this," she said. "Putting pressure on like this doesn't really help. We don't need to be sidetracked by these kind of tactics."

Ms. Green, who also declined to estimate the economic impact of Fallon's decision, acknowledged that at the opening of the medical center and the onset of the strike, the hospital had difficulty finding enough operating room nurses with proper qualifications and experience. While that caused some elective surgery to be postponed, she said that delays are now minimal.

In another effort to persuade Mr. Barbakow to join the negotiations, all 12 members of Massachusetts congressional delegation yesterday signed a letter urging the Tenet chief to personally negotiate an end to the strike.

"We are writing to urge you to come to Worcester, Mass., and conduct face-to-face negotiations in order to settle this labor dispute," the letter stated. "We encourage you to travel to Worcester to complete these negotiations. We look forward to your response."

Harry Anderson, senior director of corporate communications for Tenet, said Mr. Barbakow is fully informed about the Worcester strike and involved in the issues.

"His belief is this is a local labor situation, and he has full confidence in those conducting the negotiations," Mr. Anderson said. He added that the issues in the dispute, including mandatory overtime, concern hospital operators nationally and are critical to the future of the health care industry. 

© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Back to Strike Page