Opinion ID: 1059808
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Health Care Provider.

Text: As noted in Part A(2) of this opinion, Code § 8.01-581.1 defines a [Wealth care provider to include: (vi) a corporation, partnership, limited liability company or any other entity, except a state-operated facility, which employs or engages a health care provider and which primarily renders health care services. The plaintiff contends that the medical malpractice cap does not apply to Coastal because the cap applies only to health care providers and [t]here simply is nothing in the trial record evidencing that Coastal `primarily renders health care services, an essential component of § 8.01-581.1's definition of `health care provider.' The plaintiff says that Coastal is nothing more than a specialized type of employment placement service. However, the evidence shows that Coastal was quite different from an employment placement service. Coastal's senior vicepresident testified that Coastal was created to provide emergency physicians to staff emergency departments of hospitals and that [i]s ... what it in fact does. Coastal's contract with Southside Regional obligated Coastal to provide at least five physicians to render professional and administrative services in [Southside's Emergency] Department on a full-time basis .. . 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Coastal agreed that the physicians would direct and supervise all medical services in the emergency department, participate in educational programs, and perform teaching functions. Coastal also agreed to provide information to Southside Regional regarding budgetary needs of the emergency department and to perform a number of other administrative tasks. In addition, the contract required Coastal to designate one of its physicians, serving as its employee, to be the Chief/Medical Director of the Department. This doctor's duties were to provide overall medical direction in the continuing operation of the emergency department, assure that the quality, safety and appropriateness of patient care in the Department are evaluated, and see that the performance of the Physicians is in accordance with the contract. The contract entitled [Coastal] to bill patients for professional services rendered by the Physicians. The contract provided that Coastal's fees would be independent of Southside Regional's charges and that neither Coastal nor the physicians would receive any compensation from Southside Regional for services rendered pursuant to the contract. Coastal owns no emergency room facility or equipment and employs no support personnel such as nurses or technicians. Instead, it enters into contracts with physicians and pays them for their services. In Dr. DiGiovanna's case, the contract stipulated that his professional services would be provided at designated medical institutions and that Coastal would pay a set fee for each hour during which he provided services pursuant to the contract. The plaintiff says that, as a matter of law, the trial court erred in concluding that Coastal carried its burden of proving it primarily renders health care services within the meaning of the definition of [h]ealth care provider in Code § 8.01-581.1(vi). We disagree with the plaintiff. The contract between Coastal and Southside Regional clearly provided for the rendering of health care services in Southside Regional's emergency room. Coastal is a corporation created to provide emergency physicians to staff emergency departments of hospitals for the purpose of rendering health care services in such departments. A corporation can act only through its officers and agents. Greenberg v. Commonwealth, 255 Va. 594, 600, 499 S.E.2d 266, 269 (1998). It is a concession in the case that Dr. DiGiovanna was the agent of Coastal, and it was in this capacity that he rendered health care services to Mrs. Pulliam in the emergency room of Southside Regional on December 15, 1995. In our opinion, all the foregoing established at least a prima facie case that Coastal was an entity which primarily renders health care services within the meaning of the definition of [h]ealth care provider in Code § 8.01-581.1(vi). The trial court did not err, therefore, in holding that Coastal had carried its burden of proof.