Source: 9News
Several patients of Village Medical in Northern Colorado are scrambling to find new care after receiving notifications that their providers resigned with little to no advance warning.
Thirteen out of 50 health-care providers across multiple clinics in the Fort Collins area left the organization in the past week.
Jessie Burnside, one of the impacted patients, said she was caught off-guard when she received an email this week informing her that her doctor was leaving immediately.
The email outlined the process for transferring care, obtaining medical records and requesting a one-time courtesy refill for prescriptions.
“It has been really disruptive,” Burnside said. “When you have older parents and you have a lot of people who depend on the relationship they built with the provider, it’s just like a big shift to go through, and it feels like it was handled very poorly.”
Some patients took to social media platforms such as Reddit and Facebook to share their experiences and express concern about the future of their medical care.
“I kept having my fingers crossed that my doctor would stay there, and then when I got … that she was leaving and it said she would be gone in a number of days …” Burnside said.
Village Medical confirmed the resignations, stating that 13 of its 50 health-care providers left the organization this week. Molly Lynch, a spokesperson for Village Medical, said that the organization received little advanced notice of the departures.
“Because Village received very little advanced notice of the providers leaving, the team is quickly working to notify patients and provide alternate care options,” she said in an email. “Patient care is always our priority so we are working through solutions including recommending our urgent care locations, our 24/7 care through our App, our virtualist program, and more.”
9NEWS asked Village Medical about the reasons for the sudden resignations and whether more providers had left earlier in March. The Coloradoan reported on March 7 that 22 providers were set to leave the Fort Collins clinics.
