IDPH reinstates Advocate Sherman Hospital’s Level II Trauma Center designation status
ELGIN – Sheri De Shazo, president of Advocate Sherman Hospital, told Elgin City Council members on Oct. 13, that throughout the first few weeks of September, the hospital was forced to postpone or “bypass” elective procedures due to the lack of staffed anesthesiologists.
Following the hospital’s decision not to renew its decades-long contract with United Anesthesia Associates, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) moved towards downgrading Advocate Sherman Hospital’s status as an Illinois Designated Level II Trauma Center in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Region nine, on Sep. 24.
“Regrettably, due to a number of factors, we had to make a difficult decision to change anesthesia providers after months of good faith negotiations. We regret that this transition has not been as smooth as we hoped,” said De Shazo. “We determined it wasn’t clinically prudent to accept additional patients brought in by ambulance. Never once was the hospital without the services of anesthesiologists on the premises.”
De Shazo assured residents that since mid-September, however, Sherman Hospital has not needed to bypass patients.
In a statement released on Sep. 23, Sherman Hospital stated that United Anesthesia Associates demanded a raise of “nearly 300% increase in pay.”
Kristen Johnson, manager of Public Affairs for Advocate Health Care, told My Huntley News that those figures were sent in error.
“We issued a correction to those [media] outlets that we sent the 300% [statement] to. That was a mass mistake on my part,” said Johnson.
Dr. Justin Macariola-Coad, chief medical officer at Advocate Sherman Hospital, shared more information about the hospital’s new group of anesthesiologists that began making their transition back in early October.
“First and foremost, our new anesthesia partner, TeamHealth, is a physician practice, not a staffing agency and it’s among the largest and most established practices in the country. We carefully selected TeamHealth because they offer us a team of experienced clinicians that will provide our patients extensive access and flexibility when it comes to their care. We expect to be back to our historic level of anesthesia coverage early in the new year,” said Macariola-Coad.
He continued, “Every clinician practicing in the hospital is licensed in Illinois and is credentialled at the hospital…During this transition, we hold a multidisciplinary clinical review committee composed of surgeons and proceduralists, evaluating which procedures should be prioritized. Since early September, we have been doing elective surgeries at Sherman and our ability to perform additional elective surgeries continues to grow each day.”
On Oct. 15, IDPH notified Advocate Sherman Hospital that their Level II Trauma Center designation in EMS Region nine had been restored.
Despite some residential concern of overcrowding of other local hospitals with new patients unable to get certain elective procedures done at Sherman, Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital states that patient volume has been consistently increasing over time, regardless of the situation that occurred with Sherman Hospital.
“As a ‘Patient First’ organization, Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital will continue to meet the needs of our community as they present for care,” said Kim Armour, vice president and chief nurse executive at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital, and Dr. Daniel Campagna, medical director of emergency medicine, in a joint statement.
As Sherman Hospital continues to onboard its new group of anesthesiologists, Johnson says that the hospital currently has sufficient anesthesia coverage to avoid bypassing patients for the foreseeable future.
“We anticipate returning to full anesthesia services in the beginning of 2022, with expanded access and services beyond our historic levels in the spring. We have and will continue to provide regular updates to the Elgin City Council Members and the Mayor. We thank our patients, physicians, and team members for their patience and flexibility during this time,” an email statement from Johnson said.
“Our emergency room remains busy. Seeing volumes of patients significantly higher than we saw during much of the pandemic. We’re fully capable of evaluating and treating any patient that walks through the door, adult and children and currently in the mindset of preparing of what we anticipate will be a difficult COVID and influenza season this winter,” said Dr. Faizan Shakeel, an independent physician and medical director of the emergency department at Advocate Sherman Hospital.
Shakeel continued, “I acknowledge that there were difficulties in this transition period and yet, I know that the Sherman leaderships’ primary objective is to make decisions that are in the best interest of the patients and our community and I believe that this is one of those decisions…While I understand that this was a difficult and sensitive decision, I believe time will illustrate it to be the right one. Next year our community will have more access and more flexibility to get the care that they need close to home.”
Advocate Sherman Hospital said they are committed to working with any patients that had a surgery postponed or re-scheduled and had to go to an alternative hospital elsewhere.
“We are committed to working with [patients] to mitigate any potential financial impacts as a result of out-of-network insurance coverage,” the hospital said in a statement.
