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Baseball deal strikes out with physicians in District of Columbia

A proposed fee to help fund a new stadium is expected to hit oncology practices especially hard.

By Tanya Albert, amednews staff. Dec. 20, 2004.

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The prospect of a new major league baseball stadium in Washington, D.C., doesn't have local doctors humming "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Instead, they feel like they're being taken for a ride.

The District of Columbia City Council on Nov. 30 gave an initial approval to a baseball stadium deal that includes an annual fee for businesses with annual gross receipts of $4 million or more.

The estimated 2,000 businesses that are included in that category likely would pay between $2,500 to $7,500 a year, according to Chris Bender, spokesman for D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams. Although statistics on the number of physician practices that would be affected aren't available, the medical community is worried that several doctor's offices could be hit by the new assessment.

The details of the fee were still being worked out at press time. A final vote on the stadium deal is expected Dec. 14 or Dec. 21.

The fee would hurt D.C. doctors, who are already saddled with high liability insurance premiums and low reimbursement rates from public and private payers, according to the Medical Society of the District of Columbia. With nowhere to pass along the added cost, some physicians would be more likely to look at moving to Maryland or Virginia, where the cost of doing business is lower, said K. Edward Shanbacker, the group's executive director.

"It's just another hit on the bottom line of physicians," he said. "Physicians will leave the district, which they are already doing because of liability costs."