Sierra Health delays elective surgeries until May

Art Nadler

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

Clark County patients covered by Sierra Health Services Inc. who need elective surgery will have to wait until May.

The health maintenance organization, which covers 170,960 people in the county, made the decision to delay elective surgeries in April, because local hospitals have been overloaded, said Ria Marie Carlson, vice president of public relations for Sierra Health. The decision was made 10 days ago.

Clark County hospitals have been on divert status since December, the HMO noted. Divert status occurs when a hospital's emergency room becomes full and paramedics are instructed to take patients to hospitals that have room. The flu season has kept hospital emergency rooms particularly busy this year.

But local doctors questioned Sierra Health's motives.

"That's baloney," said Dr. Gary Latourette, a Las Vegas orthopaedic surgeon. "Most of the operations we do are on an outpatient basis. This is just another way to withhold care for the patients, so they don't have to pay any money out during the month of April.

"They are taking money from the patients and putting it in the pockets of the administrators."

Latourette said many of the elective surgeries orthopaedic surgeons do include torn cartilage in knees, shoulder cup tears and carpal tunnel syndrome of the wrists. All these, he said, are performed on an outpatient basis.

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Vladmir Schwartsman said it's "ridiculous" that Sierra Health is meddling in hospital administration business. He said patients plan for elective surgery by taking off work and arranging for people to care for them at home. He sees delaying surgery as only causing problems for patients.

"I feel there is another reason why Sierra Health is doing this," a skeptical Schwartsman said. "It's not because of the flu season. I've never heard of this."

But Ann Lynch, vice president of community service at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, said postponing elective surgery would ease the burden in emergency rooms when there are no beds.

"It will be a help for people with more critical needs," Lynch said. "We don't know when the divert season will be over."