Deal with Denver doc lets Memorial treat head injuries again

Memorial Health System will resume treating severe head injuries at its emergency department Sept. 1 after contracting with a Denver-based neurosurgeon to provide on-call services at the state’s busiest ER.

Memorial lost its ability to treat adults with severe head inuries when its neurosurgeons — five members of Colorado Springs Neurological Associates — abruptly canceled their contract in July with the city-owned hospital. Since then, adults with severe head injuries have been diverted to Penrose-St. Francis Health Services facilities. Both Memorial and Penrose are Level 2 Trauma Centers.

“We’re going to be back live on Sept. 1,” Dr. Manoj Pawar, Memorial’s chief medical officer, said Tuesday. “We’ve contracted with Dr. John McVicker from Denver who will work in Colorado Springs and provide neurosurgical coverage for trauma, along with Dr. Paul Grabb, our pediatric neurosurgeon.

Pawar hopes to recruit other neurosurgeons to Memorial to create a team that will treat more than just head injuries, and added that the hospital might try to lure a couple of CSNA doctors to be part of it.

Neither Pawar nor CSNA’s attorney, Andrew Stathopulos, would say why the doctors terminated their contract, although Stathopulos said previously that it wasn’t over compensation.

“They had some disagreements with Memorial they couldn’t resolve,” Stathopulos said.

CSNA still hopes to have a relationship with Memorial, but wants its concerns addressed before resuming its practice there, Stathopulos said.

He said CSNA wishes the best for Pawar and his team, but he wonders whether McVicker and Grabb can handle the load.

He also questioned whether Pawar will be able to lure neurosurgeons to Memorial.

“I don’t know if they will be able to assemble a team,” Stathopulos said. “We’ve been trying to recruit one or more members to our team for some time. It’s difficult to recruit neurosurgeons.”