Knapp gets new ER doctors; city mulls weighing in on hospital sale
Dec. 22--WESLACO -- As pushback continued against the pending sale of Knapp Medical Center to South Texas Health System, a new team of emergency room doctors took over early Wednesday morning.
The hospital's switch of its ER contract from Rio Grande Valley Emergency Physicians to Dallas-based EmCare was announced in October, and is unrelated to the pending sale, but resulted in protests last fall by the doctors and their supporters.
The contract involves about six to eight full-time and six part-time doctors to handle the Knapp ER. The switch occurred at 12 a.m. Wednesday.
"As far as I know, it's running smoothly," said David Copple, EmCare vice president of business development, adding that an operations team including the regional client administrator and regional medical director were overseeing the transition.
EmCare representatives said they had offered employment to nearly all of the previous ER doctors. Four of them agreed to stay on at Knapp.
Copple said some doctors would be flying in from other regions as staffing was finalized, but said the end goal was to keep the emergency room "as local as possible."
"What we will try to do is have physicians working there in the community," he said. "Initially we will have individuals that will be commuting from other Texas cities ... They want to be able to interview before making a commitment to move to the Valley."
The hospital pays a monthly subsidy for the ER contract, but refused to disclose how much that subsidy is for EmCare, or how much it was for Rio Grande Valley Emergency Physicians.
EmCare provides emergency services to some 500 hospitals in 40 states, including McAllen Medical, McAllen Heart Hospital, Starr County Memorial Hospital and Valley Regional Medical Center.
Copple acknowledged the friction surrounding the change in provider.
"We certainly understand transition," he said. "I know the group we're replacing has been there a long time and we certainly respect their work."
MULLING A STANCE ON THE SALE
Meanwhile, many of the same Knapp physicians who previously protested the switch to a large national emergency services provider spent Tuesday evening at Weslaco's city commission meeting appealing to city leaders for support in stopping the sale of the hospital to a large national for-profit system.
City leaders have no control over Knapp -- a private institution -- but seemed to sympathize with some publicly aired fears. They agreed to schedule a special meeting for next Tuesday to consider adopting a resolution expressing support for the protesting physicians.
It remained unclear whether commissioners would go through with approving such a resolution, or how strongly worded it would be.
Commissioner Olga Noriega, who requested the meeting, said her inclination was to oppose the hospital's sale, but admitted she had not looked into it herself outside of city meetings.
"You can feel the frustration and that's a red flag," she said.
Knapp Board Chair John Lackey said he hoped the commission saw selling the hospital as a positive, but said that even if the city took a stand against the sale, it would not hinder it.
"We're still going to get it done," he said. "It's going to happen. If they want to find some legal technicality, if they want to spend taxpayer money to say no to it, that's a hard thing for them to back up, in my opinion, but we'll fight it.
"The board is committed to making this happen."
City Manager Leo Olivares said his biggest concern was a lack of information regarding the sale. The city has limited involvement with Knapp, but helped the hospital acquire some $65 million in tax-exempt bonds.
Those bonds must be repaid before the sale of the hospital is finalized Jan. 31.
"They don't want to talk about things that are still under negotiation," Olivares said of the sale. "We get that. I get that. But the city, through the Health Facilities Development Corporation, needs to be at the table."
The city manager said his communication with Knapp and UHS had been limited and he was trying to get more information to determine if the sale was positive or negative.
"I have not take a strong position because I like to work off of facts," he said. "We're feeding off rumors, but that's all we've got."
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Elizabeth Findell covers Pharr, San Juan, Alamo, the Mid-Valley and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at efindell@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4428.
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Follow Elizabeth Findell on Twitter: @efindell
Copyright 2011 - The Monitor, McAllen, Texas
