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Hospital hopes bill will allow doc hires
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Chesbro legislation would let hospitals hire own physicians Del Norte County needs physicians. But state law prohibits Sutter Coast Hospital from hiring doctors directly, something a hospital spokesman says discourages them from coming to rural areas. California is one of three states that requires doctors employed by hospitals to be independent contractors because of worries that profit margins will get in the way of patient care. Assembly Bill 648, which passed the Assembly and is being considered by the Senate today, directly addresses the need of rural communities for more doctors. The legislation, introduced by Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, whose 1st Assembly District includes Del Norte County, seeks to start a pilot program to allow rural hospitals to hire physicians.
According to a survey released by Sutter Coast Hospital that compares
the number of health care services and providers with Del Norte’s
population, the area needs at least 13 more adult primary care
providers and an additional 22 specialists in areas like general
surgery, psychiatry and urology.
“The No. 1 thing to know is that we desperately need doctors,” said Grant Scholls, Sutter Coast director of public relations and physician recruiting. Scholls has been recruiting doctors for Sutter Coast for the last five years and does not believe that prohibiting hospitals from hiring doctors is a system that is working for patients. The bill is opposed by some Republicans, and state Sen. Sam Aanestad’s public relations officer, William Bird, explained why. “The senator is committed to making sure that patients get the best care possible,” Bird said. “That is why he will be voting no on SB 648.” Bird said Aanestad believes that because hospitals are for-profit businesses, a conflict of interest would arise if they could hire physicians. “Aanestad is worried that once hospitals could hire physicians, concerns about the hospital’s bottom line would override making sure patients get the best care possible,” Bird said. Scholls said the opposite is true. “Doctors want to be in an employed situation because their goal is to devote all their time to the care of the patient,” he said. “They don’t want to be small business owners, they don’t want to have to navigate the complexities of the health care system. That’s a full-time job.” Requiring doctors to in essence run small businesses severely inhibits rural California hospitals from being competitive with larger cities and other states, Scholls said. “Doctors really need to be able to focus on their patients’ needs,” Scholls said. “I have never met a doctor in our hospital that has any idea of a patient’s payment history, that is not their focus, that is not why they went to medical school. Forty-seven other states allow hospitals to hire doctors — do the math.” Scholls went on to say that doctors acting as independent contractors have to make money decisions themselves, which is why many local doctors not affiliated with the hospital don’t accept Medi-Cal patients. Chesbro’s media relations officer, Andy Bird, said Aanestad failed to understand the need for the legislation. “The bills do have measures to ensure that patient care is based upon need rather than the bottom line,” Andy Bird said. “Ultimately this is a test case focused on rural communities because options need to be provided for areas that are under-represented.” |
