Springfield physicians save patients, insurers money with 7-day-a-week and night hours

A group of Ohio physicians are being touted for their unique set of business hours: they're open until 10 pm 7 days a week, an arrangement they've been making for the last 31 years. (Source: "Doctors featured in magazine for day-to-night hours" Springfield News-Sun, Sept. 11, 2007.) The August issue of Medical Economics recently profiled the doctors--William Leahy, E. Gus Mancy, David Zainey, Olsen J. Rodgers, Michael Patrick and Lawrence Daykin, of Pediatrics Associates in Springfield--for their innovative business model, which the doctors say saves patients and insurance companies money. Patients pay regular office co-pays (instead of emergency room copays, which run between $50 and $100), while insurers avoid paying for expensive emergency room charges. The doctors charge insurers and Medicaid an extra evening and holiday hour fee of $15.