GOVERNMENTN.J. doctors get collective bargaining rightsPhysicians can join together, but insurers don't have to negotiate with them. Similar provisions have hurt physician bargaining efforts in other states.By Amy Snow Landa, amednews staff. Jan. 28, 2002. Washington -- New Jersey has become the third state in the nation to allow independent physicians to bargain collectively with managed care plans over the terms of their contracts. Legislation signed into law Jan. 8 exempts joint negotiating by physicians and dentists from antitrust laws as long as such activity takes place under close supervision by the state. "We have been aching for some type of antitrust relief for years," said Angelo S. Agro, MD, president of the Medical Society of New Jersey. "Now it is up to physicians in our state to take advantage of the opportunities we have been fighting for and make them pay off." Texas and Washington are the other states that give physicians the right to bargain collectively. The New Jersey law allows doctors in that state to negotiate with health plans on such matters as the definition of medical necessity, utilization management procedures, quality assurance programs, clinical practice guidelines, dispute resolution and credentialing. Physicians also could negotiate payment issues as long as the attorney general found that the plan in question had substantial market power and that terms or conditions of the plan could pose a threat to quality and availability of care. Doctors are not allowed to strike, nor can they negotiate to exclude nonphysicians from plans. Like the laws previously enacted in Texas and Washington, the New Jersey act does not require insurers to join doctors at the negotiating table, raising questions about whether self-employed physicians will be able to exert any more leverage in contract talks with health plans than they did before. The experiences of physicians in Texas and Washington seem to provide little basis for optimism.
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Copyright 2002 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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