Megan McIlroy, The Examiner
2006-10-14 09:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

Howard County -

Lack of emergency room specialists at Howard County General Hospital could force patients to go to other hospitals or wait for care.

“This is a major issue,” said Victor Broccolino, hospital president and chief executive officer.

“It impacts our ability to keep patients in Howard County,” he said.

But the problem is not unique to Howard, said Nancy Fiedler, spokeswoman for the Maryland Hospital Association.

“It has been a problem, increasingly over the course of the last several years since the medical liability crisis emerged,” she said.

Specialists are increasingly hesitant to visit emergency rooms because medical malpractice lawsuits have skyrocketed. Emergency room patients are more likely to sue specialists because they don’t have a relationship with them, Broccolino said.

Other factors contributing to the overall decline in specialists are low reimbursements from Medicaid, Medicare and insurance providers and specialists seeking a better quality of life.

“Many of the specialists are aging and don’t want to work the 24 hour on-call shifts without compensation,” Fielder said.

The Maryland Hospital Association is working to survey the specific specialists the state is lacking, but orthopedic doctors and neurosurgeons are generally considered the most scarce, Fiedler said.

As a rule of thumb, the more narrow the specialty, the harder it is to get the specialists, she said.

To address the problem, some hospitals in the state are compensating doctors to supplement pay from patients and insurance companies. Other hospitals such as the Anne Arundel County Medical Center have hired specialists who are based in the hospital and only care for hospital patients.

Howard County General is considering hiring hospital-based specialists, and Broccolino said he will lobby for state funding to provide additional compensation to emergency room specialists.

Until the problem is addressed, in non-life-threatening situations, patients may be transferred from Howard County General Hospital to another hospital or forced to wait until the following day for specialty care.

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com