Covering more than one hospital while on call

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univlad

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My group is considering covering the pathology services for a second hospital in town. Some of the partners are reluctant about the moving forward as they think we would have to have two people on call each weekend (a main call and a back up who stays in town in case there are two frozens at the same time). How do other groups that cover more than one hospital work call when covering more than one hospital? I think one person could be able to cover two hospitals but am curious about what arrangements other groups have. I've only worked in the group for six months, but have never done a frozen section on the weekend so far and feel it would be very unlikely to have frozen sections at both hospitals at the same time on a Saturday or Sunday.

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My group is considering covering the pathology services for a second hospital in town. Some of the partners are reluctant about the moving forward as they think we would have to have two people on call each weekend (a main call and a back up who stays in town in case there are two frozens at the same time). How do other groups that cover more than one hospital work call when covering more than one hospital? I think one person could be able to cover two hospitals but am curious about what arrangements other groups have. I've only worked in the group for six months, but have never done a frozen section on the weekend so far and feel it would be very unlikely to have frozen sections at both hospitals at the same time on a Saturday or Sunday.

This is COMMON and presents no issue whatsoever to many groups. There is a group in central California which covers hospitals from Tracy to Amador all the way down through the Yosemite Valley, for those unfamiliar with that geographic region, is almost as large as some states.

The key is communication. If your clinicians expect you to be at their beckon call 24-7 with no communication, you will fail. If they are reasonable and communicative it is no problem whatsoever.

Having 2 people on call is ridiculous. Dont even consider that.

The other issue is whether "the juice is worth the squeeze", meaning is $$ worth even having to worry about 2 simultaneous frozens at point A and point B.

If you are a smart businessmen you will find a way to generate a nice new revenue stream from this wonderful opportunity. If you arent, you will fail, rue the day you ever even considered taking the contract at this second location and likely make little coin from this to balance the negatives.

The choice is yours, dont let lazy, negativity nancy partners take away your potential windfall profits. Be assertive if you do want this.

GOOD LUCK and grats on the options you do have bro.
 
I'm not the business man that LA is, but our group covers call for two hospitals 13 miles apart, and it's never been a problem (at least I can't remember it being a problem). I've had frozens that are close together, but the clinicians know that we are covering both hospitals, and they are reasonably tolerant.

I guess it would depend on the frequency of frozens at the hospitals. If you routinely are spending most of the night doing frozens, you'll probably have problems.
 
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Make it clear at the outset that ONE person is covering multiple hospitals, so there is no misunderstanding. Clinicians will expect what you lead them to expect and will become whiny and petulant if you can't deliver.

Never let go of an opportunity to grow your business. You can always dump them later if the payoff is not commensurate with the bull$hit. In pathology, it's all about running to keep in place.
 
i recently visited some of las vegas path groups and they cover a wide array of hospitals. i asked a similar ? re: call coverage and they told me that they'll often stagger folks. i.e. have someone stay a bit later at one hospital until the covering doc is avail for call for either.
 
Never let go of an opportunity to grow your business. You can always dump them later if the payoff is not commensurate with the bull$hit. In pathology, it's all about running to keep in place.

QFT. That is the essential mindset of a pathologist bent on survival in today's medical economics.
 
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