Desert Springs has plan to keep ER surgeons

Judy Odierna

Monday, March 31, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.

Desert Springs Hospital officials say they will have general surgeons to treat emergency room patients by Tuesday.

Though the hospital is still waiting to see if general surgeons will respond to their offer for payment to be part of the program, Carl W. Fitch Sr., chief executive and managing director of Desert Springs, said hospital officials are moving forward with other alternatives.

"We'll start by using 'locum tenons,' which are physicians who are made available to take temporary assignments," Fitch said.

"Ultimately we'll hire local general surgeons willing to be hospital-based and provide necessary calls to the emergency room. We're speaking to other physicians who have stated an interest in doing this on a full-time or part-time basis."

Over the past month or so the hospital's 11 eligible general surgeons have dropped out of the emergency on-call program.

Fitch said emergency room doctors have been contacting the primary physician of patients with insurance, who then call a surgeon. Uninsured patients have been sent to other hospitals.

"There have been no problem with (insured) patients" who have a regular doctor, Fitch said. "The problem was with the patients who do not have a private physician and may or may not have insurance. Those patients that don't have a physician will still be seen by an emergency room doctor first and then go to the call panel."

Fitch said they usually see about four uninsured patients a month and about eight who don't have a private physician but have insurance.

Several months ago orthopedic surgeons requested to be paid a stipend for taking emergency calls, Fitch said, but the hospital could not pay them.

"It was a very small group to begin with," he said. "They decided to take a leave of absence and go elsewhere, and we let them do that."

Soon after, Fitch said, general surgeons started asking for $2,000 a night to take calls. Fitch said that was too much and offered the surgeons the Medicare rate for self-paid unassigned patients. He said they didn't like that so he offered them a new rate -- 150 percent of the Medicare rate.

"This rate, on average, is higher than they get even for a private patient with insurance," Fitch said. "It's very difficult to understand why they wouldn't accept this rate. The hospital is not going to get paid for these patients."

The hospital sent the offer to 25 doctors, including those who are over 55 and are not mandated to take calls, and so far has only received one positive response.

Fitch knows that unless there are enough general surgeons willing to do it, none will participate.

"None of the general surgeons want to take too many days of call in a month," he said. "We would need to find enough so that no one feels overburdened."