The doctor is inn

Sunday, Aug. 6, 2006 | 7:39 a.m.

Imagine coming to Las Vegas for a fun-filled weekend and coming down with a stomachache or spraining an ankle dodging one of those crazy cabdrivers on the Strip.

An awkward step or some bad sushi could ruin a vacation that has been planned for months, or worse, derail business meetings that could make or break your year.

The long emergency-room waits at valley hospitals are as common as free drinks in the casinos (which probably contribute to a lot of the sprained ankles). With a little luck, the unfortunate visitor might get out of a hospital in time to catch the plane back home.

For 11 years, the Inn-House Doctor has been on call to help tourists avoid just this type of scenario. The service offers 24-hour, in-room medical care to guests at almost every casino in the city, according to founder Walter Krause.

"When people don't feel well, they could go to the ER, but it's usually not really an emergency call. Or they can call us and speak to a doctor in five minutes."

That was the choice that confronted Niccole Trzaska on Thursday.

The 27-year-old footwear model from New York was on assignment in Las Vegas. The day before she was to leave town, she recognized some familiar symptoms and returned to her room at the Luxor to get some rest. She suffers from a chronic condition that causes painful kidney stones, and she knew she was having a flare-up.

By the morning, she said, she was in unbearable pain and had a high fever. She contacted the front desk to find out where the nearest emergency room was and they told her about the Inn-House Doctor service.

"I wasn't sure what to do. I just wanted the pain to go away," Trzaska said.

After a quick triage over the phone, Dr. Cary Logan of Inn-House was in her room in less than an hour. He examined Trzaska, and prescribed antibiotics and pain medication.

"He was very professional and very knowledgeable," she said. "He knew, for example, that this condition is very common in women who travel a lot."

Trzaska was disappointed that she had to miss the last day of her modeling assignment but relieved that she was feeling much better by Thursday evening and was headed back to New York. Logan said Trzaska's illness was typical of most of his calls. Chronic conditions that flare up, gastric problems and minor injuries make up the bulk of the practice.

"It's mostly everyday people with everyday stuff."

That's not to say there aren't some unusual calls.

Logan gets the occasional newlywed groom suffering from performance anxiety in need of a little wedding night help, or a remorseful spouse calling for assistance after a late-night indiscretion.

A dose of Viagra or a morning-after pill can usually alleviate this pre- or post-performance stress.

He also gets a lot of celebrities and entertainers in town for business or pleasure who value the discretion provided by an in-room physician.

"I don't want to name anyone specifically, but it's just about anyone you can think of from A to Z," Logan said.

There are also the more poignant calls - a terminally ill person who "crashes" while in town for one last fling or a visitor who experiences a personal tragedy back home.

If the problem is something that can be handled with routine medical care, Logan or one of his associates will treat the guest at the hotel. If it's something more serious, however, the doctor will contact hotel security and get the guest to a hospital.

Inn-House Doctor has a working arrangement with Valley Hospital, as well as dentists, chiropractors and other medical professionals, which minimizes the amount of time the guest is inconvenienced.

Usually the call requires an in-room visit. But if it is something routine, such as providing a few blood pressure pills to replace a lost prescription, the doctors call it in at no charge.

"It's kind of a public service we perform for the hotels and the guests," Logan said.

If a room call is required, the usual cost is $200 to $275, plus medication, according to Logan. He said the price is very reasonable when compared to an emergency-room visit, and is a lot more convenient. Once a patient is seen by a doctor, they have access to that same doctor for the duration of their stay.

Logan said this relieves some of the anxiety associated with being ill and away from home. This is especially true of foreign visitors, who might be in the country for the first time.

The doctor also provides a detailed bill with insurance codes that can be submitted for reimbursement when the guest returns home. While repayments vary for out-of-network services, Logan said most guests are reimbursed at about 60 percent.

Logan said the goal of the service is to provide first-rate medical care with minimum inconvenience to the visitor. The service also handles residential calls, but the focus of the practice is hotel guests.

The hotels do not pay Inn-House for the service; they simply offer it as a convenience for guests.

Inn-House Doctor has about seven doctors in a rotation and the service usually takes more than 30 calls a day. Most of the doctors have a private practice or hospital affiliation as well.

In addition to Las Vegas, Inn-House Doctor has offices in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Houston and Boston, where the company is based.