MN court: Bylaws constitute ’enforceable contract’

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that a medical staff can sue its hospital board. Avera Marshall medical staff members brought the case against South Dakota-based Avera Health System over bylaws changes at the hospital in Marshall, Minnesota, and the case found its way to the state Supreme Court after two lower courts ruled in favor of the hospital.

The higher court overturned the previous rulings and stated that the hospital staff’s bylaws constitute an “enforceable contract” that can result in litigation if they are breached. The plaintiffs in the Avera Marshall case alleged that their hospital unilaterally changed its medical staff bylaws in 2010, a year after the facility was acquired by Avera Health Systems, according to the Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus Leader.

A schism between physicians employed by the hospital’s medical group and those employed by the Affiliated Community Medical Center, which operates clinics in southwestern Minnesota, was the impetus for the change to the bylaws, a move intended to break the logjam between the two groups, MedPage reported.

Source: FierceHealthcare