Johnson Memorial partners with physician group to improve wait time in ER

A local hospital is partnering with an award-winning group of physicians to improve wait times in its emergency room.

Johnson Memorial Health partnered with Boone County Emergency Medical to staff the hospital’s emergency department in Franklin. A team of physicians are now housed at the Franklin hospital to help improve patient care and, hopefully, decrease wait times in the emergency room, said Dr. David Dunkle, president and CEO of Johnson Memorial Health.

Boone County Emergency Medical is an Indiana-based, board-certified physicians group made up of more than 20 members who serve primarily in the emergency departments at two hospitals the group partners with.

Johnson Memorial is the third hospital in central Indiana to partner with the group. The group also works with Witham Health Services in Zionsville, and Major Health Partners in Shelbyville.

They reached out to Dunkle to offer the partnership, he said. He wasn’t looking to add physicians to the emergency department, but the group’s track record in improving patient care impressed him, he said. 

Established in 1982, the group has an impressive record of success in patient services, Dunkle said. In the first year of its partnership with Major Hospital in Shelbyville, the emergency department’s patient satisfaction score improved by 73%.

In 2017, the group helped Major Hospital earn the distinction of being one of 59 hospitals in the country with an emergency room door-to-doctor time of three minutes, the only hospital in Indiana to earn that distinction.

"They are recognized for their door-to-doc time, which is the amount of time you get to the ER until you’re seen by a physician," Dunkle said. "I was incredibly impressed because again, what’s the biggest complaint people have about the emergency department? The wait."

Dunkle hopes to decrease the wait time at Johnson Memorial’s emergency department, and also preserve patient satisfaction, he said. Since he took over the hospital last year, he has prioritized putting patients first, he said.

"Definitely, I want to decrease wait time for the public while again preserving quality. Everything we do should be about putting the patient first," Dunkle said.

And he thinks Boone County Emergency Medical will amp up the hospital’s patient care. 

"You want to be seen promptly and you want to be given the highest level of care possible. I think the Boone County Emergency group is definitely going to deliver on that," Dunkle said.

Since it is a contracted service, there is no set amount Johnson Memorial has to pay for its services. Dunkle would not release specific dollar-amounts spent, but Boone County Emergency Medical bills Johnson Memorial for its services, and then the hospital bills the physician group for things such as labs, imaging or advanced monitoring, he said. The hospital also pays part of the physicians’ salaries. 

A few of the group’s physicians will work full-time at Johnson Memorial, and rotate regularly between the different partnered hospitals. They join two Johnson Memorial doctors, and two physician assistants.

"When you look at Johnson County growing (and) you look at the City of Franklin growing (and) you look at this wonderful new building we’re in the process of finishing, I thought the timing was just perfect," Dunkle said.

The hospital plans to open its new 17,400-square-foot Emergency Department next week. The new department will be housed in the $47 million expansion to the hospital, which added space for a new emergency department and outpatient services center in place of an older part of the hospital, which was demolished in 2018, on the east side of the medical campus.

The new wing of the hospital has served as its COVID-19 unit for a few months, but the hospital plans to move those patients to its intensive care unit at the main hospital this week, Dunkle said.