Letter and Timeline Reveal Radiology Practice's Perspective on Split with Mary Washington Hospital
The longtime partnership agreement between Radiologic Associates of Fredericksburg and Mary Washington and Stafford hospitals ended this week.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Starting July 1 and after more than 50 years, medical imaging taken at Mary Washington or Stafford hospitals will no longer be read by radiologists employed by Radiology Associates of Fredericksburg (RAF).
Emily Thurston, director of communications and marketing for Mary Washington Healthcare (MWHC), told the Advance in May that the practice “sent contract termination notice” to the hospital system in December.
The hospital system’s CEO, Christopher Newman, also told medical staff in an April update that RAF had “terminated their contract to provide interventional and diagnostic radiology services at Mary Washington and Stafford hospitals and our two free-standing emergency departments,” and that MWHC was “disappointed” by the termination.
But according to a letter that RAF president Roni Talukdar sent to medical staff this spring, the practice worked since March of 2024 to “engage MWH leadership on shared challenges, including the nationwide radiologist shortage and recruitment hurdles.”
“It is with great disappointment that we read Dr. Chris Newman’s recent CEO update to you, which implied, incorrectly, that RAF is abandoning the health system. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Talukdar wrote in the letter. “That message does not reflect the full story, and we believe it’s important to set the record straight and provide the missing context.”
Talukdar’s letter and an accompanying timeline of events were shared with the Advance by an anonymous source, and their legitimacy was confirmed by Ian Gass, RAF’s CEO.
According to the letter, RAF’s then-president Chris Meyer and Gass met with Newman on March 7, 2024, to request a change to the service agreement between the two organizations. RAF asked that the agreement be amended to allow “our overnight radiologist to read remotely, a practice common in radiology and [Mary Washington Hospital’s intensive care unit].”
Gass told the Advance in a June interview that RAF’s overnight radiologist was driving from home in Washington, D.C. to Fredericksburg for a shift starting at 10 p.m. each night, and then driving home the next morning in rush hour traffic.
Gass said it’s a “very, very common practice” for radiologists to work remotely.
“In today’s environment, it’s hard to fill those [overnight] shifts,” he said. “Radiology is a specialty that is much more suitable for remote work and hybrid schedules, and that’s becoming more common.”
Gass said overnight radiologists, in particular, have worked predominantly remotely for at least the past decade.
According to Talukdar’s timeline, Newman “verbally indicated [that this] request seemed reasonable and MWHC would consider it.” Following the March 7 meeting, Gass sent an email asking if RAF should draft an amendment to the agreement, and Newman “responded with yes.”
RAF sent a two-paragraph draft amendment by email to Newman on March 14. According to the timeline, Gass and Meyer followed up with Newman ten times over the next three months, requesting an update on the proposed amendments. Newman responded twice, indicating each time that he was “waiting for legal to get back.”
On June 17, 2024, according to the timeline, RAF received “a 36-page revised and restated [agreement] with many new terms and conditions.” Gass replied the next day, stating that RAF wasn’t expecting a completely rewritten agreement and asking whether MWHC would sign the original two-paragraph amendment.
“Dr. Newman responded [the same day] with no,” according to the timeline.
Two weeks later, RAF’s overnight radiologists resigned. On July 31, Gass emailed Newman, stating that RAF “was unable” to sign the proposed revised agreement and requesting a third-party mediator. Gass restated this request in a September 4 meeting between RAF and the healthcare system.
“MWH leadership declined,” the timeline states.
Discussion resumed in October, after RAF paid for a fair-market valuation by a third-party “that both RAF and MWH had successfully worked with in the past,” Talukdar’s letter states. RAF was under the impression that there was an understanding, but in December of 2024, the practice received another draft agreement from the hospital system that added “several new concerning provisions.”
“Only then, after nine months of attempted collaboration, did we provide formal written notice of non-renewal, while again expressing our willingness to continue talks,” the letter states.
There were several more meetings between both parties in the early part of 2025. Then the day after a February 13 meeting, the hospital system sent employment officers to all RAF partner radiologists, according to the timeline.
On April 28, Talukdar asked to meet with Newman to “reset the relationship.” The two met on May 1, according to the timeline, and Newman “reiterated that MWH would only support an employed radiology model.”
Talukdar wrote in his letter that during the months these negotiations were ongoing, RAF was approached by “multiple other healthcare systems requesting that RAF provide remote coverage.”
“Looking back, those conversations presented a stark contrast,” he wrote. “Other health systems were eager to engage, and their administrative teams approached discussions with a spirit of collaboration and mutual respect, something increasingly absent in our interactions with MWH.”
In an email to the Advance last month, Gass said four different hospitals in Virginia reached out during that time.
“One has now reached back out again and we are in discussions to provide services for them,” he said.
Gass said in an interview with the Advance that none of RAF’s partner radiologists accepted the hospital system’s February 2025 employment offer.
He said that in total, RAF employs 52 radiologists. Through its contract with the hospital system, RAF staffed 10-12 radiologists at both hospitals and free-standing emergency rooms in a 24-hour period, and that the average turnaround time to read and interpret medical images was 15 minutes.
In his April 2025 update, Newman said MWHC was “having success in both recruiting permanent radiologists and contracting for longer-term radiologist coverage.”
The Advance asked MWHC last month how many radiologists it had hired directly and how many would be working at the hospitals per 24-hour time frame, and also posed questions following up Talukdar’s letter and timeline.
Specifically, the Advance asked why MWHC did not agree to allow overnight radiologists to work remotely, whether it is true that intensive care unit physicians work remotely, and why the hospital system prefers an employed radiology model.
Thurston responded with the following statement: “We cannot share information about contracts or negotiations. The important thing to know is that Mary Washington Healthcare has added more than 30 very qualified radiologists to the medical staff to provide services at our hospital facilities beginning July 1. All patients can remain confident that the hospital’s radiology services are fully covered and will be of the highest quality.”
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Wow. The new CEO, Chris Newman, sure has set himself up for a rocky start as CEO at Mary Washington.
He picked a fight with the anesthesiologists and anesthesia nursing staff causing many of them to leave en masse. Now the MWH ORs are so thinly staffed with temps that semielective surgeries have to be delayed so the few available anesthesia staff are available to support the trauma program, keeping the hospital from having to go on mandatory diversion.
Newman received a Leapfrog D safety grade as COO. The hospital had to ask Leapfrog not to be graded this year because they knew that they weren’t going to improve their grade. Clear lack of leadership even as the official word from MWH is that it is a clerical error.
The most recent JCAHO survey was absolutely appalling and should make many people concerned about their safety at the hospital.
He picked a fight with the ER doctors last year when he tried to muscle them into being hospital employees. This caused many of their excellent ER physicians to leave or start looking for other opportunities.
It makes a community member wonder what is going on with the MWH Board of Trustees. Are they truly aware of how poorly their hospital is performing and how recklessly their CEO is behaving?
Very thorough & enlightening article. Guess the giant can’t gobble up every practice in town. I’ve always been extremely satisfied with Medical Imaging services & am glad they will continue to offer outpatient services.