Slidell, LA, hospital board OKs contract

The Slidell (LA) Memorial Hospital board of commissioners have approved a three-year contract with TeamHealth to provide emergency room doctors beginning June 1, 2008. Citing increased wait times and general patient dissatisfaction, the hospital sought to part ways with Emergency Medical Physicians and Services, its former emergency room service provider. During a meeting on the matter, all of the hospital's doctors who spoke said the emergency room doctors had expressed concerns about working for TeamHealth, in part because it is a large, national company and in part because the current emergency room director likely would not stay on under TeamHealth's management.