Hospital to add physicians to staff

Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital is starting a new partnership with Emergency Staffing Solutions Monday to provide an on-staff physician and emergency services for area residents.

"This degree of care is generally found only in larger, more metropolitan facilities," said Lance Labine, Trigg Hospital administrator. "A physician is on premises 24/7, 365 days of the year."

Labine said this new staff will be implementing a "hybrid" physician model to give patients the same level of attention or "continuity of care," through the entire outpatient and inpatient stay.

"These doctors have no offices or patients outside of the hospital," Labine said. "This way they are in the hospital 100 percent of their time, and see patients multiple times during the day. They can respond quickly to urgent patient needs and are available to order tests and view results in real time."

Labine said in the past such tasks were handled by staff, with doctors on call.

Emergency Staffing Solutions, founded in 2001 in Texas, focuses on rural and suburban areas and has a network of more than 1,000 physicians. They manage Emergency Departments and Hospitalist programs for over 50 rural facilities across fourteen states.

"We are very excited for the opportunity to partner with ESS to provide an unprecedented level of physician coverage in our emergency room and overall facility," said LaDonna Chacon, Director of Patient Care Services.

Information: 461-7000.