• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

County’s ER crisis jeopardizing patient care

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, February 24, 2005

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Patient Safety Monitor Alert!

A new report commissioned by the Palm Beach (FL) County Medical Society confirms that the county's emergency room (ER) crisis is compromising patient care, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Released on February 14, the report surveyed nine of the county's 14 hospitals and more than 200 doctors. The report found that most doctors think patient care is affected by the ER crisis and that the lack of availability of neurosurgeons, hand surgeons, and pediatric neurologists is a problem that will continue unless changes are made.

Members of the Access to Emergency Specialty Care Task Force met to discuss how to fix the problems. That step alone was major, said Alan Pillersdorf, MD, an Atlantis plastic surgeon and chairman of the task force. "The hospitals for years have set themselves up as competition. To have (the hospital operator) Tenet sit down with (the hospital owner) HCA is really something. It shows the magnitude - that this is a crisis."

The medical society commissioned the report after the Palm Beach Post began reporting last March that neurosurgery patients were being transferred out of the county for care.

"It became clear how serious the crisis was," said Tenna Wiles, executive director of the medical society. "We realized it was a very large issue and a real patient safety issue as well."

Among factors leading to the problems, the report lists the following:

• Florida's malpractice insurance premiums are some of the highest in the country
• Medicare reimbursements are too low

These factors make South Florida an unattractive place for new doctors to practice and makes the hospital ER an unattractive place to work.

To read the complete Palm Beach Post article, click here.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Patient Safety Monitor Alert!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive