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CEO answers Bulletin questions

COLUMBUS—After concerns were raised over the last few weeks over changes in the emergency room at St. Luke’s Hospital, the Bulletin reached out to St. Luke’s CEO Michelle Fortune with questions. 

Some ER doctors will no longer be employed as of March 1 as the hospital has decided to partner with Pardee Hospital. 

The Bulletin asked Fortune last week how many ER doctors the hospital has currently; how many doctors will be leaving and why St. Luke’s make the decision and how Fortune thinks it will help the hospital. 

Following is Fortune’s response to the questions:  

“We staff our emergency department with nurses, support staff, and one physician 24/7. The department has been in a contract with Schumacher Physician Services for some time, and they’ve managed the physician’s employment and scheduling. Schumacher is not a locally based firm but does hire physicians from the area to staff our department.

 St. Luke’s has recently has signed an agreement with Pardee Hospital to provide ED physician staffing at St Luke’s ED, effective March 1st.

 As you know, Pardee provides ED services at their facility with a local physician group. They are expanding this group to provide physician services at St Luke’s. Pardee has decided to hire some of the Schumacher physicians who currently work at St Luke’s, and through them, we will have a few new physicians joining us.

We are excited that all the new Pardee physicians will be Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physicians providing services at St Luke’s. And through this strategic relationship with Pardee, we are looking forward to working with their colleagues to try to provide expand care in other areas at our hospital in an effort to keep care close to home.”