1. Surgeon Shortage Pushes Hospitals to Hire Temps
Ashley H., Jessica H., Richard G.
Surgeons for hire!

2. The Situation… Economic and cultural forces are reshaping medicine:
Causing surgeons to abandon their hospital private practices
Creating a growing market for temporary surgeons-for-hire
Leaving community hospitals short-staffed and unable to provide as many emergency-room services.
The number of general surgeons per capita has declined by 25% over the last 25 years.
Nearly ¾ of surgeons-in-training are opting for more lucrative subspecialties with better predicted hours, like cardiovascular surgery and neurosurgery.

3. General surgery is one of the fastest-growing areas of a temporary-medical-staffing industry and is expected to double to $2.1 billion in 2009.
Staffing agencies estimate that at least 1 in 20 of America's 17,000 general surgeons now work on a temporary basis some or all of the time.
Full-time temporary surgeons can earn $250,000 or more a year, in some cases nearly twice as much as in private practice.

5. Why The Switch? Long hours Payment Expenses
Spending five nights in a row on call, "bleary eyed," performing emergency surgeries.
Dr. Bengelsdorf, who recently switched from the traditional practice of working 12- to 14-hour days says, “Spending days or a week at a time away from his wife and three children is tough.”
Payment
Increasing number of underinsured and uninsured patients
Medicare program cut backs
“Privileges”
Expenses
Changes are forcing midcareer people with $250,000 of medical school debt to leave private practice because they can’t afford it.

6. Effects On Hospitals
Without the ability to perform surgeries, hospitals lose business
Temporary surgeons expensive for hospitals
U.S. health-care system the world's costliest and accounts for nearly 17% of the U.S. economy
Temporary surgeons cost a hospital about $1,500 a day, in addition to travel and lodging expenses.
In 2007, one hospital hired temporary anesthesiologists at a cost of $1.2 million, contributing to a $4 million drop in operating income.

7. The Problem… Potential safety risks:
A new surgeon is not familiar with a hospital's staff, or with surgical patients coming in for follow-up visits.
The American College of Surgeons condemns the practice of "itinerant surgery," where doctors operate on patients and leave follow-up care to a family physician.
The high cost and increasing health-care costs overall

8. Opposing arguments…
Patients fare better with a surgeon who can focus entirely on providing care instead of the administrative hassles of a private practice.
Lighter work load with more personal time for temporary surgeons.
Higher pay