Readers will recall that my first experience with the Virtua ER “overnight shift” during August 2026 ended with me leaving the ER after 3.5 hours when it became obvious that a doctor would not evaluate me anytime before sunrise.
My second experience in August 2026 was to accompany my wife during her visit which ended after 8 hours with a successful treatment of an infected tooth. Thank you Virtua.
During both visits I was struck by the number of people who were waiting hours for treatment in chairs and on gurneys in the hallway or in rooms. Some of whom were speaking up loudly about not getting service. If I was able to obtain official word from Virtua on challenges and staffing strategy for the ER overnight shift, perhaps the long waits would make sense. But my emails and certified mail to the people in charge have gone unanswered, and it seems that Virtua and its third party vendor, “Team Health”, are not about to provide any information about the ER.
So I will rely on the words of 2 doctors and a nurse who served there when I say that the Virtua ER appears to schedule only 1 doctor for the overnight shift. I admit my lack of professional hospital administrator skill but it appears that physician staffing is a main culprit in the long waits.
I specifically put this question to the President of Virtua, John Kirby. Mr. Kirby has not yet answered. I also put the staffing question to Mr. Guilford and Dr. Owen of Team Health, and await answers from them.
If you go to the following web page you will find that Virtua identifies “Team Health” as a “Hospital Based Physician Group” in the emergency department. See https://www.virtua.org/Patients-and-Visitors/Health-Insurance/Hospital-Based-Physician-Groups
The arrival of third party physician groups running emergency departments is a national trend. According to “kffhealthnews”, these medical staffing companies are often owned by private equity investors and as a matter of policy employ fewer doctors in the ERs they staff as a cost-saving initiative to increase earnings.