Dear Editor,

Last week, my former partners and longtime colleagues Dr. Aaron Zook and Dr. Rachel Hauser thought they were in ongoing negotiations and discussions with PRMC to fill the void of Dr. Dyer leaving, so they could continue caring for the patients of this region as they have with Dr. Dan Suiter and I, for the past 30-40 years.

That changed suddenly when Dr.s Zook and Hauser were told by PRMC CEO Tammy Smith with the support of PRMC’s board and Pratt Family Practice, that they could no longer see patients in the hospital and that they would be serving this community as only office physicians.

That’s nuts! That is like telling a certified diesel mechanic that they’ve been reassigned to the tire shop! And, oh, by the way, you’ll be taking a 30% reduction in your salary as well!

Hospital medicine and critical care medicine is the love of our lives. We are the ORIGINAL Hospitalists! It is why we went into Internal Medicine (adult medicine); not just to get exposure to it, or learn some interesting things, but to DO IT RIGHT!

Rather than trying to sugar coat it with “It’s the way of the future”, or “It’s how other hospitals like PRMC are doing it”, why not let Dr. Zook and Dr. Hauser continue seeing patients as they have in the past? Transparency would more correctly relay the truth. The answer is financial; medicare and insurance only allow for the billing of one hospitalist per day. Rather than hiring mid-level help (physician assistants or nurse practitioners) for Dr.s Zook and Hauser, they want to replace them and restrict them from seeing hospital patients so they (PRMC) can bill for all hospital visits in order to pay the salaries of the 3 to 4 hospitalists they would have to hire at $300,000-400,000 each per year.

One must ask the question – Why does our hospital board and administration want to push out Internal Medicine from this community altogether? It’s time for a little more sunlight! The truth is this issue could be solved with the use of mid-levels (PAs & NPs) which the hospital and Pratt Family Practice already heavily employ. Internal Medicine has also employed many mid-levels over the past 20 years. We have also been using mid-levels as hospitalists here in Pratt with Dr.s Zook, Hauser and Pribil training and supervising them successfully.

For some reason, our hospital board and CEO Tammy Smith do not like the idea and want to prevent Dr.s Hauser and Zook from performing in the very area they were successfully trained for! They are your dedicated physicians!

How short our memories can be! Just think back 5 years to the Covid pandemic. Who was it that was manning our 6-bed ICU (extended to 8-bed for the last 3 years)? Internal Medicine was taking calls from, not just all over Kansas, but from 3 surrounding states, and many times accepted patients from them if our census allowed.

The salary of a good PA or NP is $100k to $160k/year. The salary of a good MD Hospitalist is $300-400k/year and they won’t know who you are, won’t know your medical history and won’t necessarily be as good as Dr.s Hauser or Zook have already proven to be!

PRMC has had some poorly explained and serious financial difficulties the past 1-2 years. One must ask the question, does anyone have anything to gain by pushing out Internal Medicine?? It’s certainly not our patients. If Dr.s Hauser and Zook leave town, will the Rural Health Clinic (RHC) owned by the hospital continue to function as is, manned by mid-levels to replace the MD’s or will they need to recruit more replacements to maintain the RHC status?

When faced with difficult problems or situations, wise leadership seeks the council of those with experience and knowledge in the area of concern. Dr. Suiter and I have combined, about 90 years invested in the delivery of medical care and I can assure the community that NO one other than Dr. Zook and Dr. Hauser have approached us for advice.

Alan N. Pribil, M.D.
Pratt, Kansas