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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) Changes to the Mercy Hospital Emergency Services Department staff will be implemented this year according to Administrator Keith Heuser.

The new staffing model will go exclusively with physician care 24 hours a day for several reasons. One is to closely model the direction that Catholic Health Initiatives is moving toward. Another reason is to comply with changes in the Affordable Care Act along with a Physician supervision provision associated with the Center for Medicare/Medicaid services.

Heuser said the difficult part of the transition is moving away from the use of physician assistants due to new mandates. Heuser said these providers were a great asset to the hospital and highly regarded health care providers in the community.

Heuser is excited about the new capabilities this will offer the Emergency Department and throughout Mercy hospital.

Heuser said the move will also reduce the call burden on medical staff so they have more time seeing their clinical patients.

The projected start date for the new service is May 1st but it could be longer while negotiating a contract and physician recruitment for Mercy Hospital.