California Society of Anesthesiologists Bulletin 62-4 - (Page 42)
A Major Challenge to Your
Practice from Sacramento
By Virgil Airola, MD, CMA Trustee and CSA Past President,
and Mark I. Zakowski, MD, Chair, CSA Legislative and Practice Affairs Division
E
ver wonder why some physician from elsewhere
payor, who needs your help. Just such an increase in your
"dumped" that patient on your ER? Was it a Medi-Cal
overhead will be voted upon this year here in California.
patient?
Trial attorneys are attacking in Sacramento! If they're
It's just business! Ask yourself how pediatricians keep
successful, your practice's overhead, the local medical clinic's
their office doors open with an overhead of $115 per hour
overhead and your hospital's overhead will skyrocket with
when Medi-Cal pays $22.90 (now minus 10 percent) for a
professional liability (malpractice) insurance premium
20-minute visit. And it's the same in every specialty, even
increases and even more unfunded mandates.
anesthesiology. Physicians are being forced to either cherrypick well-insured patients or develop creative alternatives to
Trial attorneys have initiated a two-year battle to overturn
traditional fee-for-service payments to stay in business.
the MICRA law that was enacted in 1975 to insure that
injured patients receive full payment of all (past and future)
Like many physicians, you probably already find a place
medical costs, all lost wages, punitive damages, and a
in your practice for some charity medical care - it's what
reasonable "pain and suffering" payment. MICRA also limits
doctors do. Now envision a dramatic increase in your
attorney fees. Enactment of MICRA prevented a 400 percent
overhead, one that may force you to choose between your
increase in professional liability insurance premiums in 1975
paycheck and your ability to see any patient, irrespective of
and prevented significant numbers of physicians from being
declared "uninsurable."
42
| CSA Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of California Society of Anesthesiologists Bulletin 62-4
Airliner Crashes and Patient Handoffs — Is There a Connection?
It Is a New Day
LPAD Gears Up for a New Year
Full House? Playing Political Poker ‘Under the Dome’
CSA FALL SEMINAR 2013: ANOTHER HAWAIIAN SUCCESS
The ASA Annual Meeting
UPCOMING CSA ANESTHESIA SEMINARS
Is ‘HAL’ Coming to a GI Suite Near You?
Bookending Propofol — A Technique to Avoid PONV
Process and Outcome: Lessons from Fountain Valley
An Educational Gift from the Internet
A Major Challenge to Your Practice from Sacramento
Propofol Dreams: Of Nightmares and Déjà Vu?
NEW MEMBERS
CALIFORNIA AND NATIONAL NEWS
Fall 2013
California Society of Anesthesiologists Bulletin 62-4
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