Contract change means Samaritan ER personnel changes

MOSES LAKE - A contract with a new physician group to staff the emergency room at Samaritan Healthcare has left the current ER health provider staff looking for jobs.

"In total we're talking about 15 people," said Dr. Terry Murphy, currently the emergency room supervisor. The affected employees do not work for the hospital; they are employed by Team Health Northwest

The hospital has a contract with Team Health Northwest to provide physicians and mid-level providers (nurse practitioners and physician's assistants), said Connie Opheikens, the hospital's director of communications. The contract expires Dec. 31 and hospital officials solicited bids for a new contract, she said. "We had six different companies put in bids."

Wenatchee Valley Emergency Physicians submitted the low bid and was awarded the contract, Opheikens said. The physicians' group has not announced how it plans to staff the emergency room.

Team Health Northwest had staffed the emergency room since September 2006, Murphy said. She has lived in Moses Lake since 2007. Some of the providers lived in town, while other came to town periodically, she said.

Murphy said other health care providers and patients have been satisfied with the care they got from the current emergency room team. "This was not a quality decision. This was a financial decision," she said.

Murphy said the providers who work for Team Health Northwest are looking for new jobs. For many, including Murphy and her husband, the job search could end up requiring a move. "This is not the decision we hoped for," Murphy said. Murphy said she regrets the loss of the team she's assembled. "It's the best it's ever been right now," she said.

"I've got very loyal physicians," and other health care providers, "who made themselves part of the community, even if they couldn't move here."

Hospital patrons can expect Team Health to provide the same standard of care as they have for the last six years, Murphy said. Murphy and her staff "will continue to provide excellent care with a professional, positive attitude until the end," she said.

Managers of Wenatchee Valley Emergency Physicians did not return a phone call asking about their plans.