At the beginning of January of this year, a major change was made in the system of recruitment and contracting doctors to provide care to patients in the Emergency Room (ER) at Trinity Hospital.
After many years of subcontracting the physician coverage to a third party organization, the hospital administration and hospital board decided to assume the task of managing ER physician contracts within the structure of the Hospital District itself.
This change has provided many new benefits to the hospital and the community. Now the billing and administrative responsibilities of running the ER are incorporated into the current district departments already in-place within the hospital. Extra costs that were being paid to the third party company located outside of the county have been eliminated.
Part of this cost savings translates into the ability to offer potential ER doctors a more competitive wage than they had been receiving under the previous system, thus improving our ability to recruit and retain the very highest quality ER doctors. This benefit has already proven successful, and several excellent new ER physicians, some with local family and property ties, have been retained by the hospital district and are on duty at Trinity Hospital.
At the same time this change was made, Dr. Patrick Shipsey was asked, and agreed, to become the Medical Director of the ER at Trinity Hospital. Dr. Shipsey has been a member of the Trinity County medical community for ten years and he brings 30+ year experience in emergency medicine. He will oversee recruitment and scheduling, performance review, supervision new hires as needed, and will answer to community needs and input at all times. These responsibilities, which again are now being handled locally, will create a more adaptable and responsive ER, much better positioned to pursue the constant goal of always better serving our local community. We hope and expect that you will soon notice this significant improvement in our service to you in the ER at Trinity Hospital.
