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February 23, 2012

Editorial: Incentives lure doctors

Press-Republican

As doctors retire from area hospitals, it is challenging to fill positions. But a state program has proven valuable in bringing physicians to the North Country.

A new report by the Healthcare Association of New York State shows the loss of physicians to retirement is accelerating and recruitment continues to be difficult.

In 2010, almost 2,300 physicians left or retired from hospitals, compared to 1,600 in 2009. With the average age of practicing physicians in New York at 52 and 16 percent over the age of 65, retirements will accelerate, the 2011 Physician Advocacy Survey found.

The report showed 34 percent of hospitals (outside the New York City area) had to reduce or eliminate services in the past two years due to a lack of doctors. Another 66 percent said the shortages sometimes left emergency departments without coverage for certain specialties and necessitated patient transfers to other hospitals.

At CVPH Medical Center in Plattsburgh, recruiting is a full-time effort. Physicians are needed now in neurology, general surgery, primary care, cardiothoracic surgery, hospitalist, cardiologist, rheumatologist, dermatologist, emergency care, pediatrics, critical care, child/adolescent psychiatry, oncology, gastroenterologist and OB/GYN.

Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake reports its highest needs are for primary-care physicians and a permanent physician for its long-term-care facilities.

Alice Hyde Health Care in Malone most needs doctors for pediatrics and family practice.

Area hospitals all cited Doctors Across New York as extremely helpful to recruiting efforts. This state-funded initiative helps train and place doctors in underserved areas, providing funding for loan repayment and practice support.

Local hospitals do have successes in recruiting doctors. In 2011, CVPH added an anesthesiologist, cardiac anesthesiologist, emergency medicine, internal medicine, family practice/hospitalist, internal medicine/hospitalist and radiologist.

In 2011, AMC added a primary-care physician, hospitalist, rheumatologist and two anesthesiologists.

Alice Hyde Health Care in Malone last year recruited two dentists, a family practitioner, two general surgeons, three hospitalists, internist/nephrologist and urologist.

Lisa VanNatten, who leads physician recruiting for CVPH, said doctors are also attracted by the idea of being employed by a hospital. "We would not be able to compete if we did not offer it," she told the Press-Republican. And AMC instituted a hospitalist program a few years ago that reduces the need for hospital-employed doctors to be on call.

Up against recruiting challenges such as harsh weather, fewer cultural offerings and pay that can't match urban areas, the North Country desperately needs programs like Doctors Across New York in order to be competitive.

National reports estimate the average medical-student debt at around $160,000, so incentive programs can be persuasive tools to get doctors to consider rural areas.

We encourage the state to strengthen these types of programs so they can, in turn, bolster our hospitals.

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Editorial
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