Iowa Heart Center has filed a suit in Polk County District Court seeking an injunction to block seven cardiologists from starting a practice affiliated with a competitor, Iowa Health – Des Moines, until they fulfill the terms of their existing contracts. The physicians intend to open a competing practice at Penn Medical Place, just blocks away from Iowa Heart Center’s East Ninth Street office.

The suit alleges that the departing physicians have aggressively advertised the competing cardiology practice, Iowa Health Cardiology, in violation of their Iowa Heart Center contractual agreements. The physicians have announced their intent to leave Iowa Heart Center effective Aug. 31.

The physicians named in the suit are Craig Clark, Timothy Hart, Amar Nath, Prasad Palakurthy, John Pargulski, Craig Stevens and Saima Zafar.

The suit seeks temporary and permanent injunctions against the physicians to prevent them from advertising or practicing with the Iowa Health clinic as well as damages and attorney’s fees.

Under their contracts, the physicians are prohibited from practicing medicine within 50 miles of any Iowa Heart Center office or clinic for two years following the termination of the contracts. The contracts include a covenant that allows the physicians to pay a pro-rated amount of their contractual obligation to Iowa Heart Center to end the agreement without a non-compete clause.

“Iowa Heart Center has negotiated in good faith to enable the physicians to terminate their contracts,” said Dr. William Wickemeyer, president of Iowa Heart Center. “Unfortunately, the physicians have publicly asserted their intent to practice in unacceptably close geographic proximity to our clinics and have offered economic assurance amounts at levels significantly below their contractual agreements.”

Jay Helton, an attorney with Whitfield & Eddy PLC representing the seven doctors, said the doctors “have attempted to negotiate in good faith to have an amicable parting. But now that there’s litigation, they look forward to reaching an end to that litigation.”

Wickemeyer said other Iowa Heart Center physicians have stepped up to take on the care of the patients now assigned to the departing doctors. Other than extra work to maintain the continuity of patient care, the move by this group of physicians will have little impact on the Iowa Heart Center practice, which serves more than 100,000 patients annually, he said.