Ellis Medicine is now taking appointments for a new cardiology practice set to open its doors in January, giving Capital Region patients a first chance to book with a team of heart specialists at the center of a bitter legal standoff with St. Peter's Health Partners. The health system has launched a dedicated phone line and online scheduling portal so patients can start setting up visits months before the practice officially begins seeing them.
According to The Daily Gazette, patients can schedule appointments by calling 518-382-2273 or booking online at ellismedicine.org/appointments. The new practice, Ellis Cardiology Associates, is slated to officially open Jan. 4, 2027, and will include 22 of the 27 members of the Cardiology Associates of Schenectady group, the paper reports. Ellis has also secured employment agreements with 10 advanced practice providers and recruited two cardiologists from outside the region, according to the same report.
Patients currently seeing these cardiologists will keep seeing them at Ellis Hospital, located at 1300 Nott St. in Schenectady, where Cardiology Associates of Schenectady has performed procedures since 1983, per the Gazette's reporting. The group was acquired by St. Peter's Health Partners in 2021. Ellis has also secured outpatient offices in Rotterdam, Niskayuna and Clifton Park, the paper notes, while Becker's ASC reports the health system plans to lease seven cardiology offices across the Capital Region, in Niskayuna, Schenectady, Glenville, Clifton Park, Amsterdam, Gloversville and Rotterdam.
A Messy Breakup After a Collapsed Merger
The scheduling rollout comes after months of legal combat between the two health systems. Ellis Medicine and St. Peter's Health Partners held merger talks for six years before those negotiations collapsed in June 2026, per the Gazette's reporting. Two months later, in August 2026, Ellis sued St. Peter's, arguing that non-compete clauses in the cardiologists' contracts violate a professional services agreement between the two systems, according to the paper's reporting.
St. Peter's countersued Ellis Medicine along with physicians Christopher Dibble and Stephen Piacentine, claiming Ellis violated a non-solicitation clause by recruiting cardiologists and that Dibble and Piacentine shared employment information to aid that recruitment, the Gazette reports. Dibble and Piacentine countersued in turn, claiming St. Peter's enforced the non-compete clauses specifically to leave Ellis without a functional cardiac program, according to the same reporting. St. Peter's Health Partners President and CEO Steven Hanks has said the system offered a solution that would have kept cardiology services at Ellis, but that it was rejected, per the Gazette.
Court Fight Still Unresolved as State Weighs In
The legal dispute has drawn attention beyond the two hospital systems. The New York Attorney General's Antitrust Bureau has asked the court to consider the state's Donnelly Act in weighing the competing claims, according to CBS 6 Albany, which reported the bureau urged the court to weigh the claims against that statutory and legal background.
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, according to Becker's Physician Leadership. The outcome of that appeal, and the broader litigation, has not been resolved in available reporting.
Reports differ on exactly how many cardiologists are heading to Ellis. WAMC reported on October 4, 2026, that 20 of the 27 cardiologists in the group were planning to work for Ellis starting in January despite the non-compete clause, while the Gazette's reporting put the figure at 22 of 27 members who had submitted resignation letters to St. Peter's. Those 22 cardiologists are set to begin practicing as Ellis employees on Jan. 1, 2027, according to Becker's ASC, which also reported that Ellis advised patients to continue their current arrangements until that date.
Ellis Medicine is separately in ongoing affiliation talks with Albany Med Health System, according to the Gazette's reporting, as the Capital Region's hospital landscape continues to shift. For now, the health system's focus is getting patients booked for its new cardiology practice before the January launch, even as the courtroom fight with St. Peter's plays out.
