You will join Cody Regional Health as a General Surgery Advanced Practice Provider, supporting Dr. Thomas Etter as he transitions his longstanding private practice into the hospital system. This is not a replacement position or a speculative hire. Dr. Etter brings immediate, established surgical volume from over 20 years of solo practice in the community, and you will step directly into a busy clinical environment with patients already on the schedule. The community need is real and urgent: a catchment area of more than 50,000 residents in Northwest Wyoming relies on this surgical service, with no other full-time general surgeons for hours in any direction.
Your role encompasses the full spectrum of surgical support. You will spend approximately 1-2 days per week in the OR providing first assist during complex general surgery cases, including robotics using the Da Vinci XI system and advanced endoscopy. The remaining time splits between clinic (approximately 2.5 days weekly) seeing 14-18 patients per day for consultations and follow-ups, and rounding on post-operative patients. Unlike many APP positions where you might handle only pre-ops or follow-ups, you will be involved across the entire care continuum, from initial consultation through surgery to post-operative management.
You will work directly with Dr. Thomas Etter, a highly skilled general surgeon with more than two decades of experience in the community. He performs high-volume general surgery with advanced capabilities in robotics and maintains a direct, efficient approach to patient care. The administrative team provides strong operational support, and you will collaborate with one additional general surgery PA who supports Dr. Deal, the other general surgeon on staff. The referral network includes established relationships with internal medicine physicians and the hospitalist team, creating a steady flow of surgical consultations.
This position exists because Dr. Etter's previous PA relocated out of state, and the practice did not backfill the role in anticipation of his transition to employed status. You will inherit an established patient base and clinical volume from day one, eliminating the uncertainty of building a new practice or waiting for referral patterns to develop. The combination of immediate clinical demand, broad procedural exposure, and a manageable work schedule creates an opportunity uncommon in today's surgical job market, particularly in settings where APPs often handle only narrow aspects of surgical care.