Our hospitalist group had the misfortune of being taken over by Sound Physicians for 5 years. During that time:
- Two hospitalists were terminated without cause at the beginning of the Delta Covid-19 wave with a promise that there would be a backup pool of locums to "flex up" in the event of high census. No locums ever showed up.
We routinely saw 20-25 patients with no backup staffing called in. We never saw the "Sound Ambassadors" that Sound advertises as backup clinicians to help in times of staffing shortages. After we kicked Sound Physicians out of the hospital, we had to hire back 2 hospitalists.
- There was no raise and not even a cost-of-living adjustment for inflation; so we took an effective 10% pay cut
- We were told that paid time off was a "nonstarter"
- Resources were devoted to useless bloat like a mandatory "onboarding" training in Atlanta with childish group dynamics games and corporate garbagespeak, a "hospitalist RN" that was absolutely useless, and a "transitional care coordinator" that also did not do anything
- We were repeatedly belittled and disrespected by administrators with no clinical experience, who in turn, would turnover every few months. They made critical decisions about staffing levels at our hospital despite not being clinicians.
- Hospitalist physicians (and PAs and NPs), you have the power to shake off Sound Physicians! After a number of us threatened to leave for jobs at other hospitals, our hospital administration finally did the right thing and got rid of Sound and employed us directly. We are much happier, our patients are safer, and we are better-paid.
