Fresno hospital isn’t treating major head injuries today. Where are patients going?
Community Regional Medical Center on Thursday was not providing neurosurgical trauma services, the hospital’s top administrator confirmed.
Patients in need of neurosurgical trauma services were being transferred to facilities that provide that specialty.
Authorities didn’t immediately say whether any Fresno-area patients required treatment for head injuries on Thursday. It also wasn’t immediately clear which hospital would take those patients, though Fresno is the only Level I Trauma Center between Sacramento and Los Angeles.
Stalled negotiations left six neurosurgeons without a contract as of 5 p.m. Wednesday. The neurosurgical trauma coverage is needed for CRMC to maintain its status as a Level I Trauma Center.
“Community has no changes to our Level I status as designated by Fresno County EMS director Dan Lynch this morning,” Craig S. Castro, the president and chief executive officer for CRMC, said Thursday. “However, if a neurosurgical component is identified after a patient arrives, we will transfer the patient to an appropriate facility as we always do if we determine additional services are needed.”
Before patients are transferred, they are evaluated by the hospital’s trauma team, Castro said. Hospital officials hope to restore the neurosurgical coverage by Friday.
Late on Wednesday, Castro provided a statement indicating the hospital’s trauma services would continue, making no mention that neurosurgical trauma services would not be available Thursday.
On Wednesday, Dr. James Davis, CCFMG physician and chief of trauma and surgery at CRMC, told The Bee “that Community Regional Medical Center would not have neurosurgical trauma coverage until at least Friday.”
CCFMG, or Central California Faculty Medical Group, is an organization of more than 230 faculty physicians and other providers that together provide about 65 different specialties and subspecialties, according to its website.
Tony Botti, spokesperson for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, said the suspended neurosurgical trauma services Thursday hadn’t been an issue for the Sheriff’s Office.
“Since American Ambulance is in charge of transporting patients, they would see the impact more than anyone in law enforcement,” he said Thursday.
American Ambulance couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Lauren Nickerson, director of marketing and communications for CCFMG, said patients with major head injuries would need to be transported to the nearest hospital that offers the same specialty.
The six CCFMG physicians who are also UCSF Fresno faculty and provide neurosurgical trauma services are among 28 doctors that were left without a contract when funding for their positions expired Tuesday. While funding for all 28 physicians ended Tuesday, contracts for the six neurosurgeons expired the next day.
A new contract to cover the 28 physicians that span across 12 different specialties hadn’t been reached as of late Thursday, and there was no word on the status of negotiations.
“Since the beginning, we continue to work toward an amicable resolution with the hospital, but as of today (Thursday), the status of everything is the same as yesterday (Wednesday),” Nickerson said.
Nickerson on Wednesday said CCFMG had asked CRMC for a “breach funding mechanism or an ability to continue to provide services under the old contract” while negotiations were ongoing, but the request was turned down.
She stressed stalled negotiations are not about a disagreement in the dollar amount, but rather the funding model and a funding mechanism.
Dr. Christina Maser, who specializes in endocrine and general surgery, has worked at CRMC and has taught at UCSF Fresno through CCFMG for the past 14 years. She said CRMC had given doctors short notice on its proposed plan.
Nickerson said an initial plan put forward by CRMC included a direct employment model, where physicians would no longer be employed by the medical group and would no longer be able to teach at UCSF Fresno.
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 4:43 PM.
.jpg)