News in brief - April 5, 2004

Illinois doctors face rising premiums - California corps opens second year - Medical and physician assistants among fastest-growing jobs - AOA brings residency applications online - O'Neill: It's safer to work at Alcoa than in health care

Illinois doctors face rising premiums

The more-than 14,000 Illinois physicians insured through ISMIE Mutual Insurance Company can expect an average 7.4% increase in their base rates this year. That's a small bump compared with the 35.2% increase last year, but company executives say the medical liability crisis is far from over.

"Despite the relatively positive news on rates for the coming year, the liability climate in Illinois remains very hostile for doctors," ISMIE Chair Harold L. Jensen, MD, said in a statement. He noted that Iowa physicians insured by the company pay 200% to 400% less than their Illinois counterparts. "That's because Iowa enjoys a more sensible litigation climate."

California corps opens second year

The California Physician Corps is preparing for its second year of applicants. In 2003, 32 doctors were funded through the corps for a total of $3 million. This year $1 million has been raised for the program to date, with more funding anticipated.

The program grants physicians willing to work three years in medically underserved areas up to $105,000 to pay off medical school debt. The money is in addition to the salary paid by their employers. Primary care physicians are favored, though up to 20% of participants may come from specialties.

This year the list of eligible practice settings has been expanded to include not only those in federally designated health professionals shortage areas, but also federally qualified health center look-alikes, community health centers, migrant health centers and public housing centers.

The deadline for applicants is April 9. For applications call the Medical Board of California or visit the California Physician Corps Web site (www.calphys.org/html/bb512.asp).

Medical and physician assistants among fastest-growing jobs

The medical assistant is projected to become the fastest-growing occupation in the Untied States between 2002 and 2012, according to employment projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Physician assistants are expected to be the third-fastest-growing group during that period.

The bureau predicts the number of medical assistant jobs will grow 59%, and PA jobs will rise 49% during the span. Total U.S. employment is projected to rise by 15%.

The bureau, which released its projections in February, estimates there were 365,000 medical assistant jobs in 2002, and predicts those jobs will increase to 579,000 in 2012. During the same period, PA jobs are expected to increase from 63,000 to 94,000.

AOA brings residency applications online

Starting in July 2005, all osteopathic medical students applying for residencies accredited by the American Osteopathic Assn. will be able to submit their applications online.

Through the Electronic Residency Application Service, students will be able to send out applications without having to duplicate letters of recommendation, transcripts and other required documents.

Applicants and resident programs will submit their rank order lists through ERAS. Students will also be able to register and rank programs through ERAS for the allopaths' National Resident Matching Program.

O'Neill: It's safer to work at Alcoa than in health care

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill received a standing ovation at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's conference in Chicago last month after telling the several hundred program directors and coordinators in attendance that they had "the potential for greatness."

O'Neill, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative, said that when he became CEO of the Alcoa aluminum manufacturer in 1987, he set a goal that no one there would ever be hurt at work. Today, he said Alcoa's rate for lost work days due to injuries is 40 times lower than the health care industry's.

Accidents, medication errors and hospital-acquired infections can be substantially reduced, O'Neill said, by using information that is already known and with aggressive, continuous and systematic improvement.

He also said patient outcomes would dramatically improve and financial savings would be so huge that health care access problems could be solved, and there would be money left over to help the thousands of African children who die from diarrhea because they don't have clean water.