WARREN — A doctor who now practices in Boardman has filed a civil suit against the Steward Medical Group claiming the practice was illegally paying him to make referrals to other physicians in its group.

The suit filed March 4 on behalf of Dr. Adil Jaffer of Canfield seeks relief to “fully, fairly and justly” compensate him for his losses from his firing from the practice. It calls for punitive and compensatory damages as well as front and back pay and any attorney fees incurred by the doctor.

Steward, based in Boston, Mass., is part of Steward Health Care, which owns Trumbull Regional Medical Center as well as other medical practices in the Mahoning Valley. An email was sent to Steward’s corporate office seeking comment about the lawsuit, but it was not answered.

Alexa Polinsky, spokesperson for Trumbull Regional, said she just heard about the lawsuit Friday afternoon and had not read it so she had no comment.

The case has been assigned to Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Andrew D. Logan, and copies of the lawsuit were delivered to the defendant, according to a March 5 docket entry.

According to the document filed by attorney John Moran of Cleveland, Dr. Jaffer is a well-respected family physician who had been practicing in Trumbull County for nearly two decades.

In August 2018, Steward Medical Group purchased his private practice and agreed to re-employ Dr. Jaffer as a Steward Medical Group physician. However, Steward Medical Group at the time did not incorporate into its network all of the providers and facilities to whom Dr. Jaffer had grown comfortable referring his patients, the lawsuit states.

The salary rate Steward Medical Group proposed for Dr. Jaffer was noticeably above what a family physician would typically earn in this area, the lawsuit noted. When the doctor expressed concerns about the aggressive salary rate, the lawsuit noted, several of Steward Medical Group officials dismissed these concerns.

Despite prior assurances, when Dr. Jaffer started referring his patients to the physicians and facilities he had built a relationship with during the previous 20 years, he encountered criticism from his new Steward Medical Group bosses, the lawsuit states. This criticism arose because Steward Medical Group would not reap the benefits if the referral had been through its own network of resources, the lawsuit states.

“Instead, Dr. Jaffer based all his referral decisions on the best interest of the patient, in terms of quality of care, professional competence, convenience, ease of access and the prompt delivery of care,” the lawsuit states.

Dr. Jaffer was aware that Steward Medical Group was not legally permitted to pay him for these referrals in-network, the lawsuit states, under the 1989 Ethics in Patient Referrals Act, also known as the Stark Law.

When the pressure intensified over the referrals, the lawsuit claims Steward Medical Group revealed that Dr. Jaffer’s high compensation “did in fact take into account the volume and value of referrals (he) would make to the Steward Network,” the lawsuit states.

Dr. Jaffer was terminated by Steward Medical Group on Dec. 30, 2019. During that meeting, the Steward Medical Group regional medical director allegedly said to Dr. Jaffer: “The only thing you did wrong was you did not support the (Steward Medical Group) referral network.”

Based on this admission, the lawsuit states Dr. Jaffer believed Steward Medical Group was attempting to pay him — through a disguised high salary — for the referrals to its network.

After the termination meeting, Dr. Jaffer stayed with Steward Medical Group for a brief period instead of getting an immediate severance package. The lawsuit shows Dr. Jaffer lives in Canfield and now has a family practice on Market Street in Boardman.

Steward Medical Group’s website notes that the group operates in 11 states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, and is “committed to the communities we serve and provide the highest quality of care to our patients, working collaboratively to ensure every patient receives the most comprehensive care at an affordable cost.”

gvogrin@tribtoday.com