News in brief - Sept. 4, 2006

Emergency care system at risk of work force woes - Radiologist is NMA's new leader - N.Y. doctors sue health plan

Emergency care system at risk of work force woes

A maldistribution of emergency physicians combined with a shortage of registered nurses and a high turnover of emergency medicine technicians is putting U.S. emergency care systems at risk of critical staffing shortages, according to a new report from the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the State University of New York at Albany.

Using a compilation of original research by the Center for Health Workforce Studies and studies in the public domain, researchers concluded that although the number of emergency doctors has grown faster than the number of physicians overall, at least one study suggests this growth won't keep pace with the growing population.

The distribution of emergency physicians, too, is an issue, the report found. A snapshot of New York and New Mexico indicated that many physicians in rural emergency departments are not board certified in emergency medicine. Also, 20% of emergency physicians work as independent contractors, compared with 4% of physicians in general. Rural areas rely heavily on these locum tenens, an indication that it is difficult to recruit physicians to rural hospitals as full-time staff.

Radiologist is NMA's new leader

Albert W. Morris Jr., MD, a diagnostic radiologist in Memphis, Tenn., was installed as the 107th president of the National Medical Assn. in August at the group's annual convention.

In his inaugural speech, Dr. Morris said addressing the health status of African-Americans is at the forefront of NMA priorities. During his one-year term as president, Dr. Morris wants the NMA to focus on three key areas: environmental health and disaster preparedness; obesity; and health disparities, including advocacy for universal health insurance.

Dr. Morris has held numerous leadership positions within the NMA, including chair and secretary of the board of trustees, chair of the Council on Scientific Exhibits and chair of Region III. He also was president of the Bluff City (Tenn.) Medical Society, which selected him "Physician of the Year."

N.Y. doctors sue health plan

A group of five New York physicians filed a $25-million lawsuit against Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York alleging that the company illegally kept them out of the network and interfered with their patient relationships.

The physicians -- cardiologist Gerald Pekler, MD, pediatrician Marcelina L. Medrano, MD, internist Nkanga U. Nkanga, MD, general surgeon Fanny B. Kasher, MD, and urologist David S. Friedman, MD also are suing their former medical practice, Staten Island Medical Group, where they were employees and shareholders. They allege that the practice illegally dissolved in May and refused to hire them back when it reformed as Staten Island Physician Practice and entered into a new agreement with HIP. The HMO later expelled the five doctors who filed the lawsuit from its network in July without explanation, the suit alleges.

The doctors "seek only to treat their patients, as they have done for decades, but a managed care Goliath has trampled on that relationship," said Robert B. Stulberg, the physicians' attorney.

The doctors also say HIP failed to preapprove medical services for their HIP patients and to reimburse the doctors for treatment they provided in the 90 days preceding their termination from the network.

The health plan's spokesman Ron Maiorana said, "What this case comes down to is that consistent with New York law, HIP has the right not to contract with a physician in the same way that physicians have a right not to contract with health plans."

Staten Island Physician Practice did not return calls for comment.