Emergency Consultants
Prior to the commencement of services, our transition team will meet with healthcare system counterparts to lay out expectations of both parties and ensure a smooth transition. Topics such as emergency department recruiting, privileging, credentialing, chart flow, special billing arrangements such as charity care, managed care, and operational issues will be discussed.

Hospitalist Consultants
Rest assured - you're in good hands! We'll do everything possible to make the experience as seamless as possible. A specific start-up action plan will be developed in conjunction with the client facility and overseen by the Regional Director. This start-up plan will deal with everything required to assure a smooth transition to a Hospitalist Consultants affiliated partnership.

Since 1972, Emergency Consultants has specialized in emergency department staffing and the recruitment of top quality and caring physicians - the essential element of every emergency department. We can staff and support your dedicated local group of highly-prepared and qualified emergency physicians.

Emergency Consultants and Hospitalist Consultants are physician-led organizations with leadership teams comprised of seasoned physician executives and business professionals. In all facets of business, we maintain a steadfast commitment to putting patients first and the principles of physicians managing physicians.

Emergency Consultants:
The executive leadership team includes: James M. Johnson, MD, PhD, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer; Robert M. Williams, MD, DrPH, FACEP, co-founder and Chairman of the Board; Derik K. King, MD, FACEP, President; and Randy Howell, MBA, CMA, Chief Administrative Officer.

Hospitalist Consultants:
The executive leadership team includes: Robert M. Williams, MD, DrPH, FACEP, co-founder and Chairman of the Board; Derik K. King, MD, FACEP, President; Randy Howell, MBA, CMA, Chief Administrative Officer; and Kenneth R. Epstein, MD, FACP, FHM, Chief Medical Officer.

SymMetric Revenue Solutions:
The executive leadership team includes: Randy Howell, Chief Administrative Officer; David A. Thompson, MD, FACEP, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Compliance Officer; John Fraley, President; Derik K. King, MD, FACEP, Vice President; Christopher J. Richter, MD, FACEP, Regional Director.

We first gain a thorough understanding of the needs of your healthcare system through on-site interviews with key individuals in the administration and the medical staff. We screen all candidates prior to credentialing by reviewing the candidate’s professional qualifications, answers to disclosure questions, three peer references, and the results of a personal interview. Through diligent and discerning practitioner credentialing practices, we will assist you in meeting your goals to provide the kind of safe quality care and patient experience that your facility expects and demands.

Staffing models are unique to the healthcare system and based on emergency department patient volume, patient acuity, and physician-to-patient staffing ratios that are consistent with recommended guidelines for emergency department physician and hospitalist staffing.

Emergency Consultants works diligently to fully complete all schedules no later than the middle of the preceding month.

The foundation of Emergency Consultants’ Quality Management program is the performance of timely and relevant audits, followed by educational interventions to highlight deficiencies and promote compliance with nationally-accepted clinical guidelines. ECI’s RAPID (Rapid Analysis of Performance for Improvement of Documentation) Review Process was developed to assess and improve emergency physician evaluation, management, and documentation of selected medical conditions presenting to the emergency department. These conditions correspond with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Quality Initiatives and Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) and The Joint Commission Core Measures.

Yes. Emergency Consultants’ affiliated hospitals enjoy considerably improved compliance with clinical core indicators through the ECI QualChart System, our computer-based emergency department documentation system that includes a set of over 150 physician documentation templates specific to the patient’s chief complaint. In addition, the system contains over 150 physician and nursing Clinical Guidelines for use by our affiliated providers.

This is really up to each individual facility and what its medical staff bylaws state on this particular subject. If there is a hard requirement set forth regarding admissions done in a yearly basis in order to preserve medical staff privileges, most facilities have amended those articles in order to allow physicians using the hospitalist program to maintain their active privileges. Otherwise, PCPs would be discouraged from utilizing those services.

The active staff privileges would not be eliminated. Medical staff bylaws can be amended to add any additional requirements for membership on specific committees.

In most cases, yes (as stated above). Hospitalist Consultants can provide suggestions as to how this should be written.

This can be done a couple of different ways depending on how these patients are normally distributed. However, in most cases, the patient would be discharged for follow-up with the PCP that was originally slated for taking unassigned call on the day of that particular admission. A schedule would need to be set up for this before the start of a hospitalist program.

Yes, that is correct. Physicians belonging to a group would be responsible for continuing their normal outpatient call.