Specialists continue to refuse ER call. Some hospitals are stepping up to the plate to keep these physicians on board:

Today, many doctors rely far less on hospitals, conducting much of their care in out-patient settings. As a result, they are less inclined to shift their schedules, work weekends and disrupt their private patient care routines to rush to hospitals to tend to patients, most of whom, doctors say, are uninsured and more likely to sue if something goes wrong . . .

. . . Robert Ball, a urologist at Inova Fairfax, said declining insurance reimbursements make it harder for doctors to leave paying patients in their private offices while they treat other patients in the emergency department for free.

“Most physicians want to do the right thing, but it’s gotten to the point where we can’t stay in practice in Northern Virginia,” Ball said. “The days of the wealthy physician are over.”