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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

When Doctors Don’t Want To Be Doctors Anymore

From a consumer standpoint it’s easy to understand the need for healthcare reform; costs are high and access is limited, with 50 million uninsured people out there. What is not so easy to see at first glance is how the current healthcare system has failed doctors too. It’s a side of the story rarely heard amid all this talk of reform. At a recent town hall meeting held at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, precisely to discuss healthcare reform, physicians did not hesitate to make their voices heard. One after the other, they lined up to give impassioned speeches that reflected their disenchantment with the system. They spoke about decreases in reimbursements that are financially threatening their practices, about the burdens of excessive administrative work required of them, and the constant threat of malpractice litigation, among other things. As one physician summed it up, “the fact is doctors can’t afford to be doctors anymore and many doctors are thinking about quitting medicine”. Already in California there is a significant shortage of doctors, especially Primary Care doctors, a fact further supported by the California Healthcare Foundation in a recent study. The shortage of primary care physicians is compounded by what Bill Gil, President and CEO of Facey Medical Foundation, who was also at the meeting, pointed out to be a clear bias within the physician compensation system that rewards specialists much more favorably than primary care providers. Doctors inevitably go where the money is. As one nurse at the meeting pointed out, only 7 percent of a recent UCLA graduating class went into primary care. Ultimately healthcare reform can’t work if doctors don’t want to be doctors anymore, or if there are too many specialists and no primary care doctors to take care of patients. That message was loud and clear at the town hall meeting. “I’m here speaking before you because unfortunately I’m one of those young physicians in the area thinking about quitting medicine,” said Dr. Larry Kyle Gambrell, DO, an otolaryngologist practicing in Mission Hills. “I don’t like working under the HMO system I don’t like facing liability issues. I have a new family..I don’t see options,” he said. Neurosurgeon Asher H. Taban, who has practiced for nearly 33 years, also spoke of the financial burden he faces. He said he’s had to pay taxes out of his savings for the past five years as it has become increasingly hard to financially support his practice due to the decrease in reimbursements triggered by what he called a flawed payment formula. “For the past year and a half Medicare has not paid me a single penny.” The financial burden on him and his family lingers despite being well regarded and even “famous here in the hospital,” he added. The Medical Director of Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Hooshang Semnani, M.D. also raised his voice, laced with anger and outrage at times, while driving the point across that physicians should not suffer any more cuts under a new healthcare reform plan. “I have to work three times as much to make half the money that I did ten years ago,” he said. Fewer dollars Despite the increasing cost of practicing medicine as a result of rising malpractice premiums, rents, staff salaries, professional membership fees, license fees and costs needed to comply with the various regulations; many physicians like Dr. Semnani are receiving less payment for an office visit today than they did ten years ago. “They are degrading doctors here in this country, we want dignity for doctors,” said Saied Dallalzadeh, MD, a Pediatric Gastroenterologist in Encino. Dallalzadeh said doctors should not be harried with reimbursement issues, and that the system should value the time doctors spend with patients instead of encouraging them to squeeze in appointments. “I’ve been here ten years I have never heard the passion from doctors that I heard tonight,” said Michael L. Wall, President and CEO of Northridge Medical Center, who moderated the town hall meeting. The gathering also featured a panel discussion by healthcare professionals including Gil from the Facey Medical Foundation, Patricia Suarez, Chair of the Northridge Hospital Community Board of Directors; Bruce Ackerman, President and CEO of the Valley Economic Alliance; James Lott, Executive Vice President of the Hospital Association of Southern California; and Stan Lyles, SEIU/UHW, Contract Specialist. The discussion reiterated the obvious flaws in the system. “We need cost containment. Currently we spend 16 cents out of every dollar on healthcare. If we do nothing, by 2025 we will be spending 25 cents out of very dollar,” said Lott. And when health care premiums have grown four times faster than wages in the last eight years; healthcare spending has doubled over the past decade; and the high cost of healthcare causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds, according to healthcare facts provided at the meeting, there is no argument that the current system is broken. But parting from the basic premise that without doctors there is no healthcare to be had, a new healthcare system should consider that doctors enter the profession to care for patients and the pressure to generate revenue should not hinder, determine or get in the way of how they practice medicine. A new healthcare system should also re-balance physician compensation away from specialists and towards primary care. Staff Reporter Andrea Alegria can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or at [email protected] .

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