The UNC Board of Governors endorsed a plan by the state's two public medical schools to add students and create regional campuses to prepare for an expected doctor shortage. The plan calls for UNC-Chapel Hill to expand first-year enrollment at its medical school by 230 students in phases starting in 2009. The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University would expand its first-year enrollment to 120. Also, UNC-CH would develop facilities in Charlotte and Asheville, where 70 students would complete their last two years of medical education. And ECU would expand opportunities for students to spend their third and fourth years in clinics in areas of Eastern North Carolina that need more doctors. The cumulative cost of the plan is expected to be about $450 million.
Mollie Wilmot Children's Center is under construction near St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, FL, and the $12.5 million center will seek to improve children's healthcare by focusing solely on them. The center is expected to open in April.
The number of physicians practicing part-time is on the rise, which isn't good news for facilities that are short-staffed or struggling to recruit.
Between 2005 and 2007, the percentage of physicians practicing part-time increased from 13 percent to 19 percent, according to the Cejka Search and AMGA 2007 Physician Retention Survey. Carol Westfall, president of Cejka Search, and Joseph Scopelliti, MD, president of Guthrie Clinic in Sayre, PA, unveiled the results of the latest survey, now in its third year, at the AMGA annual conference in Orlando.
The physicians opting for part-time work tend to be early-career females or pre-retirement males, but they have different reasons for doing so. Thirty-one percent of male physicians cite "unrelated professional or personal pursuits" and 29 percent cite "preparing for retirement" as their reasons for going part-time. However, the majority of female physicians (69 percent) work part-time because of family responsibilities, including pregnancy. Past surveys suggest that part-time male physicians--but full-time female physicians--have the highest turnover rates.
Turnover concerns aside, groups should be aware of the impact part-timers will have on their ability to provide quality patient care, the presenters said. Take call coverage, which is already a contentious issue between physicians and hospitals. Roughly half (47 percent) of survey respondents said they reduce call proportionately based on full-time equivalent status for part-time physicians.
To offset the lower call availability, many groups are turning to hospitalists; 86 percent hired hospitalists or engaged a hospitalist organization in the past year to handle call and other hospital responsibilities. This is often viewed as an effective retention strategy, as it reduces the call burden on other physicians in the group.
The part-time trend doesn't show any signs of reversing or slowing in the near future. Pre-retirement male physicians and early-career female physicians, the two groups with the highest turnover rates and the most likely to practice part-time, are also fastest growing segments of the physician workforce.
Pennsylvania hospitals and other medical providers often seek higher state reimbursements for treating low-income, elderly and disabled people. Now the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare has come up with a new tax idea that would make higher payments possible by placing an "assessment" on the profits of general hospitals in two counties. While the additional revenue would come only from hospitals in Allegheny and Philadelphia, the money would be spread around to Medical Assistance providers, including hospitals, in all 67 counties.
A Fulton County, GA, commissioner has ousted his appointee to the board of Grady Memorial hospital in Atlanta for comments in support of the controversial Grady CEO. At a time when elected and business leaders are considering granting millions in extra funding to the financially suffering hospital, the resignation of Grady board member Clayton Shepherd has added another element of uncertainty to hospital leadership.
Marietta, GA-based WellStar Health System has signed a contract to buy 127 acres in northern Paulding County, GA, for an undisclosed price. The purchase was being made "to meet the tremendous growth in north Cobb, west Cobb and Paulding County," said Wellstar president and chief executive Gregory L. Simone, MD.