Doctors Accepting Hospital Employment for Relief from Medical Malpractice Costs
side note: This article details the reasons why many doctors are moving from solo, self-employed practice to working for a hospital system. This trend is troubling to many in the healthcare industry because it concentrates the physician force in certain areas. One of the reasons that many physicians are opting to work for a hospital rather than remain self employed is because the hospital system will pay their medical malpractice insurance costs. In today’s healthcare environment, where margins are shrinking and medical malpractice costs remain stiflingly high, the hospital-based employment looks very attractive.
Despite a statewide shortage of available medical specialists, hospitals in the SouthCoast region are maintaining their specialty care by pursuing multiple strategies for bringing new physicians on board.
St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, part of the Steward Health Care system, and Southcoast Hospitals Group, with hospitals in Fall River, New Bedford and Wareham, are both successfully expanding their physician base despite work force shortages. But they are using very different methods to do it.
Southcoast Hospitals Group is actively recruiting for primary care providers in all three of its markets, along with urologists and endocrinologists, according to vice president of business development Cynthia Marlborough, who said the hospital system is aware of shortages.
