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Emergency department (ED) on-call panel participation has become the equivalent to jury duty in the minds of most physicians. As the problem of coverage continues to grow, an increasing number of hospitals now pay stipends for on-call coverage. But this strategy may only contribute to the problem, according to the Emergency and Acute Care Medical Corporation (EACMC) in San Diego. The tradition of paying stipends to compensate on-call specialists just may not work well for physicians or hospitals in the current tough reimbursement environment, says Dennis Chan, MD, an emergency physician at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego and director of business development for EACMC.