Memorial awaits word from state over ER plan

Memorial Health System has filed a corrective plan with state health authorities that outlines how the hospital will bring its trauma program into compliance following a falling out with its neurosurgeons earlier this month.

The state is expected to either approve or reject Memorial’s plan by today, said Randy Kuykendall, The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s chief of emergency medical and trauma services. If rejected, the hospital can either resubmit its plan with recommended changes from the state, or appeal. Neither the hospital nor state would disclose contents of the plan prior to the state’s action.

For the last few weeks, Memorial Central’s emergency department has been forced to divert any adults with possibly serious head injuries to its chief competitor, Penrose Hospital. The two downtown hospitals are the city’s only Level 2 centers, meaning they are equipped to deal with most serious trauma cases. Providing neurosurgical services is a requirement for such a designation.

Memorial unexpectedly lost its contract with neurosurgeons from Colorado Springs Neurological Associates, which for years has provided on-call services to both hospitals for emergencies such as car crashes or serious falls. Neither the doctors nor the hospital have said what the conflict was over, although the physicians’ attorney has said the dispute was not over compensation.

The Plan of Correction filed to the state was required for the hospital to keeps it Level 2 status, said Kuykendall. It requires Memorial to explain what happened, how it is dealing with the problem, how long its lack of services is expected to last, and what it will do to prevent such a problem from happening again.

It is unusual, Kuykendall said, for a higher level trauma center to lose a specialty service. But he added there’s a shortage of neurosurgeons nationally.

The state has no immediate plans to downgrade Memorial’s trauma designation. “We don’t foresee that occurring here in any way. I have every reason to believe that Memorial will restore their coverage here shortly.”

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