Orlando Sentinel Reports Hospitals Employing More Physicians
ORLANDO SENTINEL REPORTS
HOSPITALS HIRING MORE PHYSICIANS
The Orlando Sentinel published a recent article indicating that hospitals are increasing their direct employment of physicians, citing statistics from national physician recruiters about the increase in recruiting arrangements, and opining that one of the biggest reasons for this national trend is that “physicians are sick of the business of medicine.” The entire article is available at the link below:
The largest hospital in our city has hired hospitalists and physicians in several specialties recently. It has directed the hospitalists and emergency room physicians to exclusively refer any "unassigned" patients to their employed physicians even if the referring doctor feels that a different physician would be better for that patient. Penalty for not referring to the employed physicians is to be reduction in pay or termination of employment. As physicians are increasingly becoming employed by hospitals, I find the hospital's interference in my decision on whom to refer to disturbing and unethical. I wanted to know if this is illegal as well. Thanks.