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Premier Health Care Services Announces Agreement with Mercy Hospital-Fairfield
February 13, 2008 – By Steve Babienco, Director of Hospitalist Services
Premier is pleased to announce that Premier Health Care Services, Inc. and Mercy Hospital – Fairfield have reached a two-year agreement to provide Hospitalist Services. Mercy Hospital – Fairfield is unique because it is the only site Premier manages that has in-house physicians staffed 24 hours a day. This new partnership represents the culmination of a long negotiation, having worked for the first full year under a Letter of Agreement.
The Hospitalist arena is rapidly growing, and Cincinnati is an attractive market to many candidates. “This Agreement represents a level of commitment and stability that will enable us to have a solid complement of skilled physicians that, we believe, will engender confidence in the competence such a dedicated service affords,” says Paul Kolodzik, Chief Reimbursement Officer of Premier Health Care Services, Inc. We are now able to support 6.7 full-time equivalent physicians and will be adding a half-time mid-level provider to assist in managing administrative and patient care tasks.
There is also good news to report from Bluefield Regional Medical Center in West Virginia. Premier initiated a Hospitalist service in July, 2007 with three physicians providing day-time in-house coverage along with round-the-clock call coverage. In a recent meeting, Tim Harclerode, VP of Nursing Services, was enthusiastic about how well the hospitalist program has been adopted and is meeting much long-held needs for consistent inpatient management services. Tim’s observation that he had no complaints to report in the first 5 months of operation is a testament to the exceptional leadership of Premier physician Chuck Hiles, MD and the tireless efforts of Premier physicians Mert Toler, MD and Milagros Vidot, MD.
The value of Hospitalists is increasingly recognized by facilities that appreciate the expertise and focused attention to managing inpatient services. At the same time, the medical and reimbursement community has been rather slow to recognize the level of expertise provided by the internal medicine physicians filling these roles.
The American Board of Internal Medicine is actively reviewing plans to offer board certification in the form of a Recognition of Focused Practice (RFP). According to Beth Cesta, VP for Payer Relations, if this certification is formally adopted as anticipated by Fall 2008, it will be a tremendous boost in supporting the value we have always believed hospitalists provide when talking with third party payers. Hospitalists will now have a certification that formally recognizes the high level of expertise they render to the sickest and most acute patients.
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