Here are five insights:
1. In 2013, Dr. Eleraky’s operating privileges were suspended after a spinal fusion didn’t go as planned. Dr. Eleraky remained on staff for a year until the VA suspended his clinical privileges.
2. After two years of inaction, the VA fired Dr. Eleraky in 2016 after the neurosurgeon filed complaints to the VA headquarters about his inability to resolve the suspension. The medical center was “forced to reinstate” him earlier this year.
3. During this time, the VA has paid the neurosurgeon more than $1 million while he has not performed a single surgery nor has seen any patients. Dr. Eleraky’s hospital privileges have also expired, and he is waiting on the VA to allow him to take a skills assessment.
4. Dr. Eleraky claims he was inappropriately disciplined for his refusal to amend patient records, his ethnicity and in retaliation for filing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint. Because he is not licensed in Mississippi, the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure has no jurisdiction to
investigate.
5. Dr. Eleraky’s case is not unusual. In 2016, a study found VA medical centers across the country continue to pay millions in administrative leave to physicians with “questionable track records.”
More articles on spine:
Sacroplasty: A treatment for pathological sacral fractures
How to take advantage of value-based care, bundled payments in spine
Hospital for Special Surgery honors Dr. Neel Anand with Andrew M. Swanson, MD, Memorial Spine Award: 5 points
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