Physicians and physician assistants contracted through healthcare staffing provider TeamHealth to work at Detroit’s Ascension St. John Emergency Department held a 24-hour strike last week, demanding better staffing and work conditions.

The April 18 strike comes as their union, the Greater Detroit Association of Emergency Physicians, is negotiating its first-ever contract with TeamHealth. The union represents contracted doctors, advanced practice clinicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners in Ascension St. John’s emergency department.

Hospital workers claim wages, benefits, staffing levels and investment in medical equipment have all declined since TeamHealth and St. John Emergency Services took over management and staffing of the emergency department, The Detroit News reported. They’ve accused the company of not negotiating in good faith.

The physicians allege that since TeamHealth took over staffing, experienced ER doctors have been replaced with residents and new physicians, patients face 10- to 15-hour wait times and clinicians are trying to take care of dozens of patients at once.

However, TeamHealth disagrees with the allegations and says the Ascension St. John emergency department is fully staffed today. The median door-to-doctor time at the facility in 2023 was 25 minutes, according to TeamHealth. And in 2024, wait times dropped to 15 minutes, far less than the 10 to 15 hours the union claims.

In addition, clinicians saw an average of 2.6 patients per hour in 2014 before TeamHealth took over the St. John emergency department, and TeamHealth had reduced this to 1.9 patients per hour in 2023, it told SIA in a statement.

“While clinicians affiliated with the Greater Detroit Association of Emergency Physicians are on strike, TeamHealth has worked closely with St. John Hospital to ensure the emergency department remains fully staffed and day-to-day operations will not be interrupted,” TeamHealth VP of Communications Josh Hopson said in a statement to SIA. “Patients needing critical emergency care during this time should continue to come to the emergency department at Ascension St. John Hospital.”

“TeamHealth’s top priorities are delivering high-quality patient care and supporting our frontline clinicians as they care for our communities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Hopson said. “TeamHealth has provided clinicians with support and resources for over 40 years, even in the face of material reimbursement pressure from private insurers and Medicare.”

“We have negotiated in good faith with the union, and any statement to the contrary is false. We invite the union’s leadership to return to the bargaining table and secure a resolution on reasonable and sustainable terms,” he said.

TeamHealth, which ranks on SIA’s list of largest healthcare staffing firms in the US, was acquired by private equity firm Blackstone in 2017.