When Saltzer Health closed, these 5 doctors’ patients needed care. This is what happened

Three days after Saltzer Health shuttered for good, Dr. Megan Kasper, an OB-GYN in Nampa, began unpacking U-Haul boxes in her new clinic. Her staff helped unload paperwork, office supplies, medical equipment and memorabilia.

A sign taped to a glass door at the entrance said, “Coming soon!”

Despite only just moving into the space, Kasper had two appointments scheduled for the afternoon. Many of her patients are pregnant and can’t afford to delay care.

Kasper had worked at Saltzer for nearly a decade by the time the medical group closed March 29. When Intermountain Health Care, the large Utah-based nonprofit health system that owns Saltzer, shared in January that it would either sell or close, she knew it was time to move on.

“It would’ve been my fifth owner at Saltzer,” Kasper told the Idaho Statesman. “And I was done.”

So she opened Grace Women’s Health at 5826 E. Franklin Road in Nampa, in the same building as a Red Cross blood donation center. Fortunately, the space was previously used as a family medicine clinic and didn’t need to be renovated.

But finding a location and signing a lease was just the start.

She had to file for a limited liability company, or LLC, with the Idaho secretary of state. She had to find an electronic health record and bring in information technology workers to get computers and a phone system set up. She procured janitorial services, document shredding and biohazard waste disposal. An answering service for patients who call when the office isn’t open. Vendors for medical supplies and prescription medication. A Google account, website and social media pages for the business, so people can find it online.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle was setting up contracts and getting credentialed with insurance companies. Credentialing is a process where an insurance company verifies that a provider is who they say they are. Because Kasper was already practicing in the community, she was already credentialed. But at her new clinic she bills patients under a different tax identification number and had to redo it.

It generally takes 90-120 days to get contracted and credentialed with the insurance companies, she said. Before she could even begin the process, she had to have an address and a phone number.

“It wasn’t like I could start on Jan. 18 when Saltzer made the announcement,” she said.

Joining her at Grace Women’s Health are three certified-nurse midwives who also used to work at Saltzer: Teresa Blair, Cortney Schnupp and Kathy Watkins.

Kasper said the support from her patients during the transition has been “overwhelming.” At first, she wondered whether she could set up the clinic fast enough so that they wouldn’t experience any gaps in care.

“Patients have loyalty to their provider — to their doctor or midwife,” she said. “They don’t tend to have loyalty to an organization. The organization is not who they’re sitting with in an exam room, talking to about their health. So the vast majority of our patients have wanted to continue care with us if at all possible.”

And she isn’t alone. Several of her colleagues at Saltzer are also opening private practices, and they’re bringing most of their patients with them.

Ophthalmologist leases space, equipment from Saltzer

Dr. Ken Hainsworth, a Nampa ophthalmologist, worked at Saltzer for more than two decades. It was his first job after residency, and he liked it so much that he never left. Until now. He said the providers at Saltzer were like a family.

“I hit the jackpot with Saltzer. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to work,” Hainsworth said. “That last day was super sad. People were really emotional, just crying. But when life gives you lemons, you open a private practice.”

He’s starting a new ophthalmology clinic, Canyon Eyecare, in the same location where he practiced under Saltzer, at 215 E. Hawaii Ave., Suite 260, in Nampa. It’s slated to open May 13. He’ll use the same desks in the same rooms with the same equipment as before. He’s also hired five former Saltzer employees to staff the clinic.

“They were very kind and gave me a good lease rate for the space,” he said by phone. “I find myself very optimistic about what’s going to happen.”

His longtime partner, Dr. Ryan McKinnon, is leaving the Treasure Valley. On Saltzer’s website, where information was added to show where some providers are ending up, McKinnon encouraged his patients to continue their eye care with Hainsworth.

Dr. Carrie Newton, a general surgeon, is joining Mountain States Breast & General Surgery, a new clinic at 1525 S. Owyhee St. in Boise. The practice was started less than a year ago by Dr. Rhiana Menen, who left St. Luke’s Health System in late 2023.

Newton and her husband, Dr. Aaron Newton, an orthopedic surgeon, both worked at Saltzer. He joins the Saint Alphonsus Health System on April 29.

Carrie Newton said the transition has been a challenge, but she’s excited for what’s to come.

“Having the closure impact both of us was really quite a shock,” Newton said by phone. She plans to start at Mountain States in July, as soon as she’s done with credentialing. “That was the biggest problem with the short notice that we were given.”

Saltzer closure a ‘roller coaster’

Dr. Mark Rasmus, a sleep medicine specialist and former board member at Saltzer, opened the doors to his new clinic, Everything Sleep Idaho, at 7272 Potomac Drive in Boise on April 2. The building was leased by Saltzer, and Rasmus was able to transfer the lease to himself.

He has another space, for a sleep lab, at 215 N. Georgia Ave. in Nampa, for which he was able to negotiate a longer-term lease.

Rasmus worked at Saltzer for 16 years.

He already has some experience as a small-business owner through his medical supply store Everything CPAP, which provides CPAP equipment, training and fittings throughout the Treasure Valley. To open his private practice, he hired a Boise medical management company for help.

Joining Rasmus are three other Saltzer providers: Brian Kittelson, a nurse practitioner; Taya Gill, a physician assistant; and Heather Grote, a physician assistant.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” he said. “I saw one of our partners was quoted, I think in Becker’s (Hospital Review), as saying it’s been the most stressful 60 days of his career, and I think I would echo that sentiment. It’s been a ton of expense, both financially and emotionally. I was signing paperwork up until the final 12 hours of working at Saltzer.”

He still doesn’t have the electronic health record data for his patients, though he’s contractually assumed that risk in the meantime.

“That’s the sort of thing that if we had a couple months more notice, we easily could have had it done,” he said.

The same issue applies to appointment records. With more time, he and his staff could have transferred them over. Instead, they’ve had to print out the records and will manually enter them back into the system.

‘Heartwarming’ response from patients

Saltzer in January sent a letter to patients notifying them of its plans to close or sell by March 29, but Rasmus told the Statesman at the time that it wasn’t nearly enough notice. He worried about what would happen to his patients, a number of whom are chronically ill.

Most of his patients have transferred with him. He said the support has been “unbelievably heartwarming.”

“I was really feeling burnt out working for big medicine for several years now, and I wasn’t able to put my finger on why I felt that way,” he said by phone. “But I’m so reinvigorated and so excited to get started seeing patients under our new practice. I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my back. The change in control and ownership — I feel like I’m being freed. And I honestly feel like I’m going to be able to provide better care.”

Still, he said he’s “gravely” concerned, not so much for his patients anymore, but for other former Saltzer patients who now have to sort through to the system to find another primary care physician.

“It’s going to be a game of musical chairs,” he said.

Dr. Erik Richardson, former associate medical director of family medicine at Saltzer, also started an independent practice with Dr. Elaine Davidson. It’s a new family medicine clinic called Ridgeview Family Health at 2840 S. Meridian Road in Meridian. The clinic opened April 15.

Richardson, who worked at Saltzer for 13 years, said they’ve been trying to assuage concerns by reassuring patients of their commitment to staying in the Valley.

“One of the beauties of primary care is that you develop that relationship with patients over time,” he said by phone. “You treat them, you treat their children, you treat their extended families. We’re excited to be able to continue that tradition.”

Joining the new practice are four former Saltzer providers, including two physician assistants and two nurse practitioners.

Richardson said he’s relieved to no longer work for a large health system.

“To have the ability as an independent physician to prioritize my staff and patients — I’m just excited for it,” Richardson said. “I think we’ll be able to provide excellent care, make changes on the fly if we need to and just continue to give the best parts of medicine while leaving the other parts behind.”

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