UoL Health Community GI Service

Dear Mr. Miller:

We, the undersigned, are writing to express grave concerns over the planned disbandment of the UoL Health Community Gastroenterology service in UoL Health Jewish Hospital and UoL Health Heart Hospital. We are equally concerned by the planned non-renewal (without cause) of the UoL Health employment agreement of one of the key providers of this service, Dr. Dawwas.

The UoL Health Community Gastroenterology group (and its legacy practices MidWest Gastroenterology Associates and KentuckyOne Health Gastroenterology Associates) has operated an exceptionally high-quality Gastroenterology service in Jewish Hospital downtown for nearly two decades. The group has a long track record of distinction and expertise in interventional endoscopy across the Commonwealth and beyond, providing over the years outstanding, round-the-clock acute Gastroenterology care to innumerable sick inpatients in Jewish Hospital downtown in the face of limited resources and personnel. Crucially, the UoL Health Community Gastroenterology service is and has always been absolutely instrumental in managing cardiac patients with complex gastrointestinal disorders in what is now UoL Health Heart Hospital.

Dr. Dawwas is a highly respected and accomplished gastroenterologist of the finest caliber who, along with Dr. Kaikaus and Dr. Goldstein, has delivered outstanding Gastroenterology care to our patients for several years. We believe he is an excellent team player with an exceptional skill set and impeccable work ethic that have greatly endeared him to patients and colleagues alike.

Clearly, at a time of substantial provider growth across UoL Health, the disbandment of one of this institution's longest standing and highly respected community-based services can only be a cause for great concern for all UoL Health community providers (all of whom have a contract clause allowing non-renewal or termination without cause at 90 day notice) as well as independent physicians, who would all conceivably be at real risk of suffering a similar fate. We believe decisions of this nature categorically contravene the solemn pledges of inclusiveness, openness, and tolerance the organization made prior to the acquisition of legacy KetuckyOne facilities three years ago, directly contradicting UoL Health's declared values of diversity and compassion, and ultimately creating an atmosphere of uncertainty, mistrust, and disharmony among providers.

We believe the UoL Health Community Gastroenterology service Dr. Kaikaus, Dr. Dawwas, and Dr. Goldstein have so diligently delivered to our patients in UoL Health Jewish Hospital and UoL Health Heart Hospital has been an indispensable asset and tremendous resource that should not be relinquished. We hereby strongly urge you to preserve this service, provide it with all necessary resources to continue the vital work it has been delivering, and renew Dr. Dawwas's employment agreement. We trust you possess the necessary fortitude, courage, foresight, and sound judgment to reconsider this decision.


Sincerely,