SURGICALISTS HELP HOSPITALS RESPOND
TO THE SURGICAL NEEDS OF EMERGENCY
DEPARTMENT PATIENTS

PPE, a full service practice management group, has launched a  Surgicalist program designed to help hospitals improve overall patient care by providing better  surgical coverage for a growing emergency room population.

The PPE Surgicalist service is a logical outgrowth of its existing emergency medicine, hospitalist and intensivist services. PPE will provide hospitals in the metropolitan New Jersey and New York area with dedicated, Surgicalists or Surgical Hospitalists, who will be available on-site during daytime hours, to more quickly respond to the surgical needs of patients in the emergency Department. This service includes   unassigned general surgery patients, unassigned referrals, consultations, surgeries and follow-up care.  PPE Surgicalists will supplement coverage by local private general surgeons and perform other surgical consultations at the request of attending physicians. The PPE program will also provide on-call service during the night and weekend hours.

The Society of Hospital Medicine believes that a crisis in access to emergency surgical care has emerged, jeopardizing the ability of patients to receive optimal care in a timely and safe manner. Both patient volume and complexity have increased, as increasing numbers of uninsured and underinsured patients have sought treatment in an ED. The traditional methods of surgical call coverage have proven to be challenging, and a need has arisen for new methods for surgeons to provide 24 – hour coverage, seven days per week, particularly in the middle of the night and on weekends. 

Joseph Calabro, DO, CEO and President of PPE comments “Over the years, we recognized a growing need for general surgical coverage for patients in our hospitals.  The reasons are varied and complex, but the fact is that making ED call has become increasingly difficult for surgeons and consequently hospitals to manage. There simply has been a need for improved call coverage, faster hospital throughput and tighter compliance with respect to quality measures. For these reasons, we elected to get involved in this critical part of the patient care continuum.”

John O’Shea, MD, MPA, New York, a practicing acute care surgeon and co-founder of the PPE Surgicalist program adds “our Surgicalists will help decrease the wait time between a consult request and the procedure. This service ensures that a surgeon will see a patient from the emergency department to operating room to inpatient care and discharge home. This service also allows local surgeons to concentrate on developing their practice without the interruptions to office hours and elective surgery that are inherent in providing emergency department call.”

Founded in 1994, PPE is an innovative, medical management group that provides comprehensive clinical and management solutions for Hospitalist, Emergency, Intensivist, Pathologist, Behavioral Health and now Surgicalist. PPE remains geographically and culturally close to its east coast, hospital clients, allowing it a far higher measure of focus, performance and overall success in a complex, challenging market.  

For more information, please see www.ppenet.com or call Paul White, 732- 496-9362.