Interesting Article in the Syracuse Post-Standard this morning. Physicians banding together to fight Excellus.
Link:
http://www.syracuse.com/...
Some Central New York doctors are turning to the Teamsters Union to help them fight what they see as increasingly heavy-handed tactics by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, the area's dominant health insurer.
About 250 doctors have joined Teamsters Local 1149 in Baldwinsville. The local doctors are believed to be the first private practitioners in the nation to join the 1.4 million-member union, according to Steve Richmond, president of Local 1149.
"They are frustrated with insurance companies trying to dictate patient care," Richmond said
IMHO both sides are beginning to reap what they've sown. The AMA was so anxious to get into bed with the insurance companies to fight the Clinton's "socialized medicine" in the early 90's....
The doctors had been members of the Federation of Physicians and Dentists, a national union based in Florida that started a chapter here with 36 members in 2002. The doctors switched to the Teamsters because they believe that union has the clout needed to win them collective bargaining rights, according to Dr. Dennis Nave, a Syracuse family doctor who is vice president of the Central New York Physician Teamster Alliance.
Nave said doctors also hope the union can help restore their ability to make patient care decisions without being overruled by insurers.
I know first-hand that this has been a passion of Dr. Nave's for a few years now. He'll give his patients a list of items to call their insurance companies & complain about. He has "Anti-HMO" stuff posted everywhere in his office.
Making more money isn't the doctors' only motive in pushing for the right to engage in collective bargaining, according to Nave.
"When you deny care to a patient, it has a domino effect," he said. "It's a concern for all consumers. We think if we have collective bargaining we will have the ability to negotiate into contracts some fairness and some sanity into how patients are treated. If we can treat them properly the first time, everybody saves money."
I can buy this...
Although the union is best known for representing truck drivers and warehouse workers, its diverse membership includes brewers, newspaper workers, airline pilots, secretaries, police officers, firefighters, nurses and other health care workers.
The AmericanMedical Association supports the right of doctors to collectively negotiate.
The AMA, however, looks askance at doctors joining unions.
One AMA policy warns that physicians who join traditional labor unions might become embroiled in strikes and other actions that might reduce access to care. In another policy, the AMA states it does not believe traditional trade union practices ensure the integrity of the patient-physician relationship and suggests that medical societies are in a better position to assist physicians.
Doctors as Teamsters? Who saw that coming?