Dissatisfied docs may soon be singing "California, here I go"

Managed care and low reimbursement cited as reasons why more than half of the doctors in California may quit or leave the state by 2004.

By Jay Greene, AMNews staff. Aug. 6, 2001.

More than half of the physicians in California are so dissatisfied with managed care that they plan to quit, retire or move out of state in the next three years, according to a new California Medical Assn. survey.

While some workforce experts and HMO executives in California criticized the survey as overly pessimistic, CMA officials say they aren't surprised by the results, given the number of fed-up doctors they know.

More than half of the physicians surveyed also said they had problems recruiting new physicians for their practices. The CMA represents about 35,000 of the state's 80,000 licensed physicians.

"We have partners in our group who have surprised us by retiring earlier than expected or who have moved out of the state because of better opportunities," said Ronald Bangasser, MD, a family physician with Beaver Medical Group in Redlands, Calif.

"This survey shows frustration and the difficulties in practicing in a state where reimbursement is so low and hassle is so high," said Dr. Bangasser, speaker of CMA's House of Delegates.

"Whether or not people retire or leave, this shows people are very unhappy," he added.

Frustrations noted in the survey included the growing shortage of specialists and not having adequate time to spend with patients.

While the CMA first discussed the need for a survey last year, Dr. Bangasser said the timetable to conduct the survey was moved up after the University of California at San Francisco released a report in April that concluded the state does not have a physician shortage. [...]