Blogs

May 29, 2012 - Medical Staff Recruitment

May 29, 2012 by Marc Strode, CEO
Folks,
Go Spurs Go!  Great to see the Spurs back in the Western Conference Finals....been too long! 

Wanted to bring everyone up to speed on some of the developments in regards to building the depth and breadth of our medical staff.

I'll get the bad news out of the way first.  Last week, we were in the bottom of the 9th inning as far as closing the deal with a highly qualified, board-certified ENT.  Unfortunately, on the last pitch he threw us a curve ball and announced he had taken another offer in a different community.  This really caught us off-guard, and needless to say we were very disappointed.  However, sometimes it takes a while to fully understand why things happen the way they do; but I am holding out that there is a sign around the corner waiting for us.  We continue to source candidates, and it is a high priority to bring a full time ENT to Del Rio and VVRMC.

On the urology front, starting mid-June we will have 5 urologists rotating through Del Rio and VVRMC and will by committee provide full time urology coverage through September.  So this is 15 weeks of solid coverage both from a clinic perspective as well as in the hospital.  They will work out of our OR and will set up their clinic in the space adjacent to the ED.  So that means in the next couple of weeks we will be relocating Dr. Floyd across the street to our newly-owned clinic space in Dr. Lindsey's old building.  OK..back on the Urologists.  They will cover the ED and be on call for emergencies.  I have been told their block day in the OR will be on Wednesdays, and I know if they need to operate in the afternoon after clinic for something that can't wait until the next week we'll take care of them.  We do have a full-time candidate who is coming to Del Rio in June to take a look.  I have phone-interviewed him and after that he's interested enough to come take a look. 

Today also marks the first day for Dr. Charles "Buz" Rigney, who is the primary care doc we recruited last Fall.  These things do take time, and I'm happy to present to you Buz.  He's a great guy, and we are very confident as we've gotten to know him the last several months that he will be a great fit in our community.  Del Rio needs more primary care docs, and Dr. Rigney will help address some of that pent up demand.  He will be officing in our clinic building across the street.  So later in June we will have Dr. Lindsey, Dr. Floyd, Dr. Rigney and our urgent care center.  We will be all full at the inn. 

We are working now to find a time in June to do a community event to introduce both Dr. Osorio and Dr. Rigney to Del Rio.  You should be seeing ads on Dr. Osorio and soon will see them on Dr. Rigney as well as the visiting urologists. 

We have interviews set up in June for our Medical Director position in the Emergency Room.  This is a critical position to be able to find the right leader to help us execute all clinical and operational strategies.  There are 3 candidates, and starting next week they will begin interviewing.  I am hopeful to have feedback from our peer interviewing panel, which will include front-line staff in the ED, by the end of the month.  If we feel that one or more is the right fit, we'll immediately extend that offer.  We continue to work on staffing the ED w/ the new doctors.  We are finding this to be a longer exercise than anticipated, but trust me we will get there.  We are still steadfast on our plan of 3 10-hour MD shifts w/ overlap during peak times. 

Our hospitalist program started full-time earlier this month.  We have 3 providers currently rotating w/ at least one more to hop on board.  Dr. Tovar, who is the medical director for the group, has expressed an interest in working some shifts at VVRMC and has plans to come on board.  Drs. Cordona and Salinas have been in the rotation for a few months now.  And the other new guy this month is Dr. Kuklinski.  With all of our hospital-based services (e.g. hospitalist, ED, radiology, pathology, etc.) we work hard to find a company we think will serve us well and has interests aligned w/ ours.  However, that's just the first step.  They next, and by far much harder, is to get the right people in the right spot that gel w/ the team and can perform to meet our expectations.  Trust me, no one wants more than me for both our hospitalist and ED programs to have staffing settle down w/ folks we can trust and who can help us get the job done.  These two areas have consumed a disproportionate amount of my time in my 1st year.  I am committed to continue working w/ both groups to nail things down for us.

We have some other irons in the fire so stay tuned!

Keep the Spirit,
Marc