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250 local doctors join the Teamsters
They seek bargaining power and more patient control from insurer Excellus.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
By James T. Mulder
Staff writer
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.
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,
"This should send shock waves through the community," Nave said. "There is a crisis in the delivery of medical care in this community that needs to be addressed, and we need to take strong measures to fix it."
He and Richmond expect the Teamsters to recruit another 750 doctors from the region by the end of the year.
Doctors are upset with payment cuts by Excellus and policies that dictate what drugs they can or cannot prescribe for patients, Nave said. The insurer recently notified doctors in Oswego it will cut payment rates June 1. Depending on the doctor's specialty, the cuts could exceed 20 percent.
Nave said doctors are having a difficult time reconciling that with recent reports showing Excellus' profits increased 88 percent last year and the nonprofit insurer paid five executives more than $1 million.
Doctors wouldn'tneed a union if there were 20 insurers in Central New York with comparable market shares, according to Nave. "But when you have one insurer having a 70 percent market share, there is a need," Nave said.
Elizabeth Martin, speaking for Excellus, said the insurer had no comment on the doctors joining the Teamsters.
Federal antitrust law prohibits unions from engaging in collective bargaining on behalf of independent competing doctors in the same market. Unions can serve as intermediaries between individual doctors and insurers. Nave said the doctors chose the Teamsters because the union's local representatives can serve this function and review contracts with insurers. The doctors also joined the Teamsters so they could get lower-cost health insurance through the union for themselves and employees, he said.
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."
There are about 75,000 Teamsters in Upstate New York, Richmond said.
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.
You can contact James T. Mulder at [email protected] or 470-2245.
They seek bargaining power and more patient control from insurer Excellus.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
By James T. Mulder
Staff writer
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.
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,
"This should send shock waves through the community," Nave said. "There is a crisis in the delivery of medical care in this community that needs to be addressed, and we need to take strong measures to fix it."
He and Richmond expect the Teamsters to recruit another 750 doctors from the region by the end of the year.
Doctors are upset with payment cuts by Excellus and policies that dictate what drugs they can or cannot prescribe for patients, Nave said. The insurer recently notified doctors in Oswego it will cut payment rates June 1. Depending on the doctor's specialty, the cuts could exceed 20 percent.
Nave said doctors are having a difficult time reconciling that with recent reports showing Excellus' profits increased 88 percent last year and the nonprofit insurer paid five executives more than $1 million.
Doctors wouldn'tneed a union if there were 20 insurers in Central New York with comparable market shares, according to Nave. "But when you have one insurer having a 70 percent market share, there is a need," Nave said.
Elizabeth Martin, speaking for Excellus, said the insurer had no comment on the doctors joining the Teamsters.
Federal antitrust law prohibits unions from engaging in collective bargaining on behalf of independent competing doctors in the same market. Unions can serve as intermediaries between individual doctors and insurers. Nave said the doctors chose the Teamsters because the union's local representatives can serve this function and review contracts with insurers. The doctors also joined the Teamsters so they could get lower-cost health insurance through the union for themselves and employees, he said.
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."
There are about 75,000 Teamsters in Upstate New York, Richmond said.
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.
You can contact James T. Mulder at [email protected] or 470-2245.
