Emergency department physicians are invested in the community

As a regional healthcare system, Northern Arizona Healthcare understands the importance of investing in the communities it serves. When it comes to emergency medical services, NAH takes a varied approach to its partnership with care providers to ensure quality care and commitment to patients are top priorities.

As a regional healthcare system, Northern Arizona Healthcare understands the importance of investing in the communities it serves. When it comes to emergency medical services, NAH takes a varied approach to its partnership with care providers to ensure quality care and commitment to patients are top priorities.

In Flagstaff, NAH partners with Flagstaff Emergency Physicians, or FEP, to provide emergency department services at Flagstaff Medical Center and has done so for nearly 40 years. FEP is a medical group practice located in Flagstaff, established in 1977. All 33 FEP physicians are residency-trained and board certified.

Many of the physicians with FEP have also completed fellowships after residency. Three physicians have completed fellowships in ultrasound and these providers train other physicians and nurses in the region on ultrasound use.  Another physician is fellowship trained in toxicology and provides medical leadership to the NAH inpatient pharmacies, while another is double-board certified in emergency medicine and palliative care, practicing both in the ED and within the hospital seeing patients facing the end of life.

In the Verde Valley, no local emergency services medical group was ever established for NAH to partner with. Historically, NAH contracted with national staffing companies to provide emergency department care at Verde Valley Medical Center and VVMC – Sedona Campus, but these staffing groups were not ideal for continuity of care. Providers often did not live in the community and were not invested in the same way a local provider is.

Recognizing a need for greater investment in the community and higher quality of care, and lacking a local partner such as FEP, NAH decided to create its own local provider group. Over the past year, NAH has hired 12 physicians and five advanced practice providers, strengthening ties to the local community and providing an adaptable core of professionals. In August, the department is looking forward to welcoming two board eligible emergency medicine residency trained physicians to complete the core team.

Patients seen in NAH’s emergency departments are treated by local emergency service providers who are invested in the communities NAH serves, resulting in a higher level of care. Approximately 84,000 patients receive care in NAH’s three Emergency Departments each year:

  • Around 50,000 people are treated at FMC, a Level I Trauma Center, 2,000 of whom are trauma patients.
  • 27,000 receive care at VVMC, a Level IV Trauma Center, 450 of whom are trauma patients.
  • 7,000 people are treated at VVMC – Sedona Campus, which is not designated as a trauma center.