Emergency medicine residency phase-out delayed? Hospital district to negotiate

The Nueces County Hospital District will consider a potential solution to delay the loss of the Christus Spohn emergency medicine residency program Wednesday.

The hospital district Board of Managers will consider terms to serve as the basis for a future agreement with Christus Spohn related to the continuation of the program during a special meeting 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The meeting will be held in the hospital district boardroom located at 555 N. Carancahua Street, Room 950-A. Ahead of the hospital district meeting, the Nueces County Commissioners Court will also receive an update from the hospital district related to the emergency medicine residency program.

Nueces County Hospital District CEO Jonny Hipp said the hospital district has reached a tentative agreement with Christus Spohn. If the hospital district board of managers approves the term sheet, outlining the main points of an agreement, lawyers would then get to work negotiating an agreement, which would come before the board again sometime in the next couple of weeks for final approval.

Hipp said that the hospital district could potentially contribute $18 million towards the cost of operating the program over the next five years, delaying the end date of the program by two years until 2028.

The Christus Spohn emergency medicine residency program has trained 120 doctors in Corpus Christi over the past 16 years. Hundreds of applicants from across the country apply for one of the program’s 12 spots each year and local medical professionals say the program has served as a pipeline producing specially trained emergency medicine experts, many of whom choose to stay in the Coastal Bend.

Christus Spohn surprised the community in October by announcing plans to terminate the program in 2026 once its current batch of residents have completed the three-year program. In response, the program’s doctors quickly mobilized hoping to save the program.

Doctors launched an online petition and attended Corpus Christi City Council and Nueces County Commissioners Court meetings, taking the opportunity to speak during public comment periods.

Dozens of doctors who are teachers in the programs, other medical professionals from across the community and state and members of the public spoke of the value of the program to the community, where residents serve in emergency rooms.

The Nueces County Commissioners Court launched a working group, hoping to engage the county, health system and local doctors in finding a solution. But Christus Spohn leadership declined to participate in the group and did not make an appearance at any of the group’s three meetings, supporters of the residency program said.

During a regular meeting of the Nueces County Hospital District on Tuesday, the board of managers discussed other items of business unrelated to the potential Christus Spohn agreement. But several area doctors, having heard about the agreement, signed up to speak during public comment.

Though happy to hear that Christus Spohn was reconsidering the 2026 end date for the program, doctors said a five-year agreement would simply be kicking the can down the road.

Dr. Michael Brodeur said that a program needs a full set of first-, second- and third-year residents to be successful.

“First-year residents in that 2027, 2028 year would not have guaranteed funding to finish their training,” Brodeur said. “This means no incoming first year resident would choose to come to train at our program and that class of 2028 would graduate without having a full complement of residents at their program.”

Academic programs require longevity and security in order to function, several doctors said. The proposed five-year agreement might only delay the decline of the program before it faces recruitment struggles after just one year, according to the doctors.

“Because of this, it would be unethical to even interview residents next year because of how their training would be negatively impacted by this plan you all are being asked to vote on,” Brodeur said to the board. “For $18 million, we aren’t getting five years."

Dr. Ruben Pedraza, president of the Nueces County Medical Society Executive Board, said that the medical society wants to see the residency program prevail.

“When the news broke there was a tentative agreement, I breathed a sigh of relief, but that was ultimately short-lived,” Pedraza said. “I ultimately came to the same conclusion. A temporary solution is not going to bring lasting resolution.”

The residency program supporters have another potential solution in mind. They suggested that another hospital in the community could take over the program, perhaps HCA Healthcare’s Corpus Christi Medical Center.

“I’m glad to hear that perhaps we’ve got something on the table that can help resolve this situation,” Corpus Christi Medical Center CEO Eric Evans said during the Tuesday meeting, addressing the potential hospital district and Christus Spohn agreement.

Evans said he had been approached by the community about Corpus Christi Medical Center supporting the program. Evans said he wants to see the program remain in the community.

“We want to work with Christus, work with the hospital district in any way we can,” Evans said. “We’ve got graduate medical education, ACGME accredited programs in internal medicine, cardiology and pulmonary fellowships. We could always help with that if that’s something this board would ever consider.”

Nueces County weighs in on loss of Christus Spohn emergency medicine residency

Doctors surprised as Christus Spohn plans to end emergency medicine teaching program

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Agreement in the works to delay end of emergency medicine residency