Officials from the Mohawk Valley Health System want the public to know their services are safe. Earlier this year, three area practices announced they'll no longer be providing services through the health system. Since then, more complaints have come up and gone public. Leaders from the health system tell Melissa Krull they are taking steps to improve.

UTICA, N.Y. -- Some didn't see it coming.

"Yes. It did come as a surprise to me," said Emergency Department Medical Director, Andrew Bushnell.

10 pediatricians from Utica Pediatrics, Sauquoit Valley Pediatrics and Slocum Dickson Medical Group Pediatrics made the announcement last month that starting July 1, they will no longer provide coverage through the Mohawk Valley Health System. Patients in need of hospital care will be referred to go to Syracuse.

Mohawk Valley Health System Chief Medical Officer Michael Trevisani said, "It wasn't a total surprise. However, I had no indication that they were all going to resign."

Since the announcement, complaints started to surface. Some were included in a newspaper article. Leaders addressed the article at a Monday conference.

"I want everybody to be clear. As soon as that letter was received, Dr. Trevisani and I met. Dr. Trevisani and Dr. Bushnell met the next morning, and we began an investigation," said Scott Perra, the Mohawk Valley Health System President and CEO.

"Some of their claims are not correct," said Bushnell. "Some of those claim that they made, we've looked into and we see opportunities for improvement."

After investigating the complaints, and finding ways to improve, officials from the Mohawk Valley Health System said they want the public to know their services are safe.

"We take every allegation seriously. We look at every complaint. We evaluate the chart. We interact with the provider. We attempt to improve the quality, the diagnosis, how the patient was examined, and see where we can do it better," said Bushnell.

The health system will have five remaining pediatricians when the 10 leave.

"Right now we believe that that's a sufficient number of patients to maintain safety at our facility. However, we're looking at different models that increase that number," said Trevisani.

Both Slocum Dickson Medical Group and Utica Pediatrics declined to comment.

Sauquoit Valley Pediatrics did not return our calls.