Sharon Hospital keeps chin up in a time of transitions for physicians

SHARON — While it’s never good to lose experienced doctors with close ties to the community, Sharon Hospital is looking at the recent migration of several longtime area physicians as an opportunity to restaff the facility in a way that is more streamlined and efficient.

Hospital CEO Kimberly Lumia and several top administrators held a small press conference at the hospital on Monday, July 27, to discuss the loss of internal medicine doctor and sleep specialist Irving Smith, and Dr. Virginia Gray-Clarke’s decision to leave the pediatric practice in Sharon in August.

Also at the meeting were Chief Financial Officer Christian Bergeron, Chief Nursing Officer Peter Cordeau, Chief Medical Officer Robert Schnurr (who is also a practicing physician with Sharon OB-GYN/Women’s Health Connecticut and a member of the hospital’s governing board), Jill Musselman (who is business development and communications officer for the hospital) and Howard Fuhr, head of the hospital’s governing board.

Sharon Hospital applied this month to the state of Connecticut Office of Health Care Access for permission to close its sleep center. In the application, called a Certificate of Need (CoN), the hospital explained that it had opened the sleep center at the request of Dr. Irving Shelby Smith when he came to the region as an internal medicine doctor in 2010. Smith left the hospital this month to take a job in New Hampshire.

The hospital says in the CoN that it tried to find a new sleep specialist to take over the center but no other physicians were interested. 

Also, Dr. Gray-Clarke will leave Regional Health Pediatrics in Sharon on Aug. 3. The office will be staffed by nurse practitioner Rebecca Malone.

At the meeting on Monday, Lumia said that the hospital is in discussions with another pediatric medicine group that could come to Sharon. She also said that Gray-Clarke might return to the area and described her departure as a sabbatical.

Lumia presented a fairly lengthy list of new physicians and medical specialists who are joining the hospital team. 

This year the Smilow Cancer Center left Sharon Hospital. Lumia said that there will not be a new oncology center with chemotherapy here, but she said that “we have some interest from a group that could provide oncology support, probably in October.” 

She talked about expanded services for obstetrics, a new general surgeon, a new hospitalist who will work with Dr. Mark Marshall, and a new medical director for the emergency room. 

There is “tremendous growth”in the wound care center, she said, which is under the leadership now of Dr. Renee Maus.

Dr. Daniel George has left Sharon Orthopedic, but the hospital is recruiting a new spinal surgeon. Dr. Evan Rashkoff and Dr. Marty Clark remain at the practice.

There is a new ear, nose and throat specialist in Sharon, Dr. Larry Marcus. 

Quality of life for doctors

Following the long list of new arrivals and upgrades, Lumia read aloud a note from governing board member Janet Nickson, imploring the media not to be swayed by rumors. 

One rumor that has circulated recently is that the hospital is renegotiating doctors’ contracts and offering them lower pay for longer hours. 

While she said she would not discuss individual salary packages, Lumia was frank in saying that the hospital is not looking to attract doctors to the area with high pay packages. 

“We are hoping to be in the median,” she said.

Pay packages are being structured with a base salary and financial incentives for accomplishing activities such as giving speeches and getting paperwork done in a timely fashion.

Quality of life is being stressed as an attraction to doctors to work here, she said. Among the new recruits to the hospital, she said, are one who has family connections here, another who wants to raise children in a safe, small-town environment, a third who already owns a home in the area and would like to live here full-time.

“It’s less about compensation and more about culture and fit,” she said.

The hospital has started a Physician Leadership Council that includes Dr. Jack Finkelstein, Dr. Marty Clark and Dr. Bill Kirber.

“The council is setting a vision for the future of the hospital and and working especially on physician retention and recruitment,” Lumia said.

New doctors coming in might have a different set of responsibilities than those who had been here for many years, she noted. One doctor is leaving, Lumia said as an example, because she wanted to dedicate her time to her office practice and did not want to continue doing hospital rounds.

Coping with a deficit

The hospital, which is the only for-profit hospital in the state (it is part of Tennessee-based RegionalCare), is regrouping in the face of a net loss of $1,410,344 in the 2014 fiscal year. 

Bergeron, the chief financial officer, was frank about the loss and about the hospital’s prospects for the future, and said that it’s possible, or even likely, that the hospital will see a deficit again this year.

State taxes are a big part of the reason for the downturn, he said. He and Lumia both said that there is no point in complaining about the taxes, the hospital has to keep moving forward.

“We need to focus on expanding our core services and we need to keep investing in the infrastructure, as we are doing,” Bergeron said. 

“We can’t stop supporting this facility.”

Dr. Schnurr, the chief medical officer, noted that this is a time of transition in American medicine and that there is frustration as doctors adjust to it.

“But we and the corporate office in Tennessee are committed to quality,” he said. 

More outreach planned

The hospital is planning to do new outreach programs, to answer questions and to introduce new staff members to the public. 

There will be an open house at the hospital, with refreshments, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 3 p.m. so the public can meet new general surgeon Emilia Genova. Future open houses are being planned.

Informal gatherings are also being planned at private homes and at town halls. 

For information and to arrange such a meeting, contact Musselman at  Jill.Musselman@sharonhospital.com.

Musselman also put out a plea to area residents to support the hospital, reminding them that the hospital can only survive if area residents take advantage of the services it offers.