The two physicians leading Cardiology Associates of Schenectady (N.Y.) allege in a counterclaim that Albany, N.Y.-based St. Peter’s Health Partners used noncompete agreements to dismantle Ellis Medicine’s cardiac program ahead of a potential Ellis affiliation with Albany Med, according to court documents obtained by Becker’s.
Christopher Dibble, MD, and Stephen Piacentine, MD, filed the more than 100-page counterclaim Oct. 16 in Albany County Supreme Court, The Daily Gazette first reported Oct. 19.
It responds to a lawsuit St. Peter’s Health Partners Medical Associates filed last month accusing the pair of a “disloyal campaign” to help Schenectady-based Ellis recruit the group’s cardiologists while still employed by St. Peter’s.
The physicians deny those allegations and ask the court to declare the group’s noncompete and non-solicitation provisions “void and unenforceable” and to bar St. Peter’s from interfering with their move to Ellis. The filing also brings breach of contract and defamation claims.
At the center of the counterclaim is a June 23 proposal from Kellie Valenti, president of St. Peter’s Health Partners Medical Associates, to move all of Ellis’ cardiac volume to St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany within six months, beginning with the immediate transfer of all catheterizations. The physicians said the proposal “raised serious issues with respect to patient care,” and allege that in numerous meetings, St. Peter’s made clear the plan was driven by “dual goals of increasing its surgical volumes and leaving Ellis without a functional cardiac program for a potential merger with Albany Medical Center.”
St. Peter’s ended six years of merger talks with Ellis in June and gave notice it would terminate its agreements with the system, including the professional services agreement covering cardiology at Ellis, effective Dec. 14. Albany Med Health System expressed interest in an affiliation with Ellis that month, and Ellis continues to explore the affiliation, a spokesperson told Becker’s.
According to the filing, Ms. Valenti said at a late June or early July meeting that St. Peter’s did not want cardiac services left intact at Ellis for Albany Med to take over. When the physicians raised concerns about the plan’s impact on patients, the filing alleges she responded:
“Sometimes you need to blow things up and start over.”
The physicians also allege that Chris Rokkas, MD, chief of cardiac surgery at St. Peter’s Hospital, told them at a June 24 meeting that the hospital did not have adequate room for Ellis’ surgical caseload. They say the noncompete and non-solicitation provisions were added to their contract renewals in fall 2025 and that they were not aware of them until summer 2026. When they asked about the provisions in August, Ms. Valenti called them an “oversight” but confirmed St. Peter’s would enforce them, according to the filing.
The defamation claims center on a statement that “two physician leaders in positions of trust” gave Ellis confidential employment and compensation information about their colleagues for recruitment purposes, which the physicians deny. They allege St. Peter’s repeated the statement in a Sept. 25 employee memo signed by St. Peter’s President and CEO Steven Hanks, MD, and Ms. Valenti; on St. Peter’s website; in messages to patients; and in staff talking points.
St. Peter’s spokesperson Robert Webster told the Gazette the system “will respond through the legal process, not the media.” St. Peter’s has said it did not start the original litigation and has repeatedly offered to keep providing services at Ellis, offers it said Ellis refused. The counterclaim disputes that account, alleging St. Peter’s offered to extend the agreement only after learning most of the group planned to leave, and that the offer would still have moved some cardiac services to Albany and kept the noncompetes in place.
In a statement shared with Becker’s, Ellis President and CEO Paul Milton noted Ellis is not a party to the lawsuit or the counterclaims, but said the system stands behind Drs. Dibble and Piacentine, whom he called “highly respected physicians.”
“Having reviewed the latest court filing, we believe this account is consistent with and reinforces many of the concerns Ellis has raised in our own litigation regarding St. Peter’s actions and the future of cardiac care in Schenectady,” Mr. Milton said.
“An established cardiac program is much more than a collection of physicians and offices,” he added.
Twenty-two of the group’s 27 cardiologists, including Drs. Dibble and Piacentine, have signed employment agreements with Ellis and plan to start Jan. 1, an Ellis spokesperson confirmed, up from the 20 Becker’s reported earlier this month. Four will stay with St. Peter’s and one is retiring, according to the filing. Ellis is finalizing leases for seven offices across the region and plans to keep performing procedures at Ellis Hospital.
Ellis sued St. Peter’s in August over the noncompetes, and St. Peter’s later sought an injunction to stop Ellis from recruiting the cardiologists. A Schenectady County Supreme Court judge has since lifted a temporary restraining order that had barred Ellis from offering contracts to the cardiologists, while St. Peter’s has filed a notice of appeal. The state attorney general’s Antitrust Bureau has weighed in on the case, and New York State Sen. Jim Tedisco has urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to step in.
Becker’s has reached out to St. Peter’s and will update this article if more information becomes available.
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