Laura Hart/Special to the Sun

A trip to the emergency room is no fun. It can be frightening and hair-raising depending upon the reason for the visit. But once the emergency issue is treated and things have settled down, the last thing you need is a bill you didn't even realize you were going to get because you thought your insurance would cover it.

Good news, though, at Kern Valley Hospital. As of Nov. 1, a new physician's group will be taking over the ER staffing, which will put an end to extra charges that were generated by the hospital's contract with EmCare. Kern Valley Hospital's Chief Financial Officer, Chet Beedle, said that the hospital had been contracting with EmCare, a physician's group which provides doctors for emergency room services, since October 2000. Beedle said it's the standard model of the industry to utilize groups such as EmCare for staffing purposes. However, EmCare did not contract with any of the insurance companies that Kern Valley Hospital accepted, which allowed EmCare to charge its own rates.

The decision to terminate the contract with EmCare was not “issues of quality,” Beedle explained, but primarily financial components.

He said about a year ago they received complaints from patients, particularly those with Blue Cross insurance, who were being burdened with the extra charges. The hospital asked EmCare to provide relief and they were turned down.

Because of the modest patient volume in the ER, the hospital was also required to pay EmCare a subsidy of $200,000 a year. EmCare recently asked for an increase in the subsidy to help pay extra rates to physicians, who are paid on an hourly basis.

Beedle said the hospital administration and physician staff got together and decided that the best thing for the community and the hospital would be to create its own physician's group to manage the ER.

Without having to pay the subsidy, Beedle said, they could pay more to the physicians to attract a quality staff. Dr. Hoshang Pormir will be the head of the new group and is working to create a new staff for the ER.

“Because we will be able to pay a higher rate to the physicians, (our) belief is that we should be able to get a high quality group of physicians,” Beedle said.

The new physician's group will be contracted with the hospital and all its providers, taking away the problems with extra charges.

Beedle said the change is underway and is expected to be in place by Nov. 1.

“The board has approved that contract, they did that at the last board meeting, and basically we're ready to go,”he said.