[Reeses]

Doctors joining trade unions is now banned.

[AU72]

The very first thing communist regimes do is ban free trade unions.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Communism is antithetical to freedom and the Constitution. It should be made illegal. It's adherents should be jailed. It's what they will do to us.

[hennie pennie]

Here’s an alarming incident.

[browniexyz]

Doctors, be afraid, be very afraid. THe reasoning in this case will not be restricted to workers’ comp matters, but will extend to fees in Medicare and Medicaid. You are now officially slaves to the state!

[grame]

Well, I can verify that there are many ortho drs in my area that won't accept US Dept of Labor Worker's Comp patients. I'm concerned that if I ever have to have surgery, that being a work comp patient might not serve me well. Another car disregarded a yield sign and crashed into me, so his insurance has to pay all the bills, but I was at work so worker's comp is the default ruler over all treatment decisions. and I know why they were boycotting. Dept of Labor only pays between 20 and 40% of the charge. I'm embarrassed to go back.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“Doctors joining trade unions is now banned.”

Liberals aren't much for consistency are they? Funny how it's OK for the White House to be involved in secret meetings to influence people like Sestak, including sending an ex-president to offer him a ‘position’ to drop out of a political race, but physicians can't speak to each other.

[savedbygrace]

The PATRIOT Act might be used against doctors in the U. S. A. who want to set their own prices?

Good gravy, the nation has gone insane.

[SteamShovel]

Doctors joining trade unions is now banned.

There will be a Dr. Shortage in the future.....

.....The ones that will exist will be the ones who couldn't make it if there were a surplus of Medical School candidates.

You will have to go to your county clinic and wait for hours to see a Physician, only to be told to come back later.

[Camel Joe]

Doctor shortages anyone?

[uncommonsense]

The Patriot Act allows for wiretaps by the DOJ to spy on doctors trying to discuss sustainable business practices? And th DOJ has time for destroying physicians given all our other problems?

I guess Barry and Holder, the New Black Panther "protector of foreign patriots" (A.K.A. terrorists), believes doctors must do their patriotic duty and "take one for the state" - by losing money on the government sponsored HC patients and over charge private HC patients to remain solvent.

Meanwhile, bailouts for his domestic security forces (his comrades in the UAW, SEIU, etc.), shall continue.

[grumpygresh]

Doctors could join trade unions as anyone else if they are employed by a large organization such as a hospital organization. Increasingly, doctors are giving up solo and group practice for this option.
In this case, the doctors were in small groups and the government contends that they colluded in refusing to accept Idaho’s low worker’s comp rates. This seems rather farcical. It’s hard enough to get independent doctors to agree on anything in the first place so such a collective action appears to be against their nature. However, there does come a point when the cost of delivering a service falls below the reimbursement and naturally almost all providers will stop providing service.
What I find really chilling is the censorship.
“It’s a naked censorship order that restrains the physicians from encouraging, facilitating, entering into, participating in, or attempting to engage in any actual or potential agreement or understanding with, between, or among competing physicians about” ... various contract terms etc.
Does this mean that a casual discussion of insurance company rates such as that insurance company sucks is now groups for a conspiracy? They are going to use the Patriot Act to wiretap physicians conversations?
The goal here, I believe, is to get physicians out of independent solo and groups practices and force them into large organizations where they can more easily be managed. But this hard ball tactic will surely drive even more specialists int early retirement.

[Sherman Logan]

Doctors joining trade unions is now banned.

False analogy. Doctors are not employees of a corporation with which they might collectively bargain, unless of course they work as employees of an HMO or some other organization, in which case the union analogy might work.

Doctors are more often businessmen supplying a product to the general public. In the event the government gains complete control of the health care system, doctors will then be essentially civil servants.

The analogy at present actually much closer to all the lawn service guys in town getting together and setting minimum prices for mowing a lawn or gas station owners agreeing to a floor on gas prices.

Such actions have been illegal for a great many years.

I don't begin to know enough about the specifics of the case to decide whether the docs are legally or ethically justified in their actions. I do know governments and other payers for services tend to think they can "control prices" by fiat, in which they are of course incorrect. A price is what it is. You can subsidize or obscure how it gets paid, but if you succeed in "controlling" it the availability just disappears.

[SMM48]

FWIW, In the last two weeks, both my family doctor and my cardiologist have announced that they are quitting. No mention of the reason but someone I know in the cardiologist office told me it was due to “financial pressures” because of medicare cutbacks.

[Chode]

No-Fault and Workers Comp both set their own rates in NY and have for years

[Nachum]

The List, ping

[I still care]

A friend of mine just told me today she was under twilight sleep for an operation, but could hear what the doctors were saying. This was a few weeks ago.

She said they were blasting Obama, they just hated him and thought he would destroy our medical system, that people had no idea the damage he was causing to medicine.

She said everyone in the operating room was virulent about how much they hated him.

[narses]

+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

[longtermmemmory]

but here comes the SEIU to urge doctors be allowed to join.

Unions have become the government and are thus evil. but unlike government the SEIU is an UNnecessary evil.

[schwingdoc]

Watch as the feds dismantle the entire private health care system. Doctors' Medicare panel disbanded after 18 years PPAC was discontinued by the new health reform law. Physicians now must use other avenues to express concerns about Medicare fee for service. By Chris Silva, amednews staff. Posted May 17, 2010. PRINT|E-MAIL|RESPOND|REPRINTS| SHARE Washington -- A federal advisory panel that provided physicians one way to tell the federal government about Medicare administrative issues was quietly eliminated by a provision tucked away in the health system reform law enacted earlier this year. The Practicing Physicians Advisory Council, a 15-member board that met quarterly with federal officials to discuss matters pertaining specifically to Medicare fee for service, was officially disbanded on March 23. A provision in the health reform law repealed the section of the Social Security Act that created the council in 1992. ■How to engage CMS after PPAC ■See related content Council members were informed of the dismantling in an April 16 letter from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The secretary announced that because PPAC was being discontinued, the council's June meeting would not take place. "I want to personally thank you for your active participation as a member of the PPAC," Sebelius wrote. "I greatly appreciate your dedication and contributions pertaining to practicing physician Medicare fee-for-service program issues." PPAC's final meeting was March 8, during which officials with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services praised the group for its leadership and suggested that the imminent passage of reform legislation, with its emphasis on boosting Medicare quality and value, would enhance the council's role. "PPAC has been critical in the past couple years, and it's going to be more critical going forward," Jonathan Blum, director of the CMS Center for Medicare Management and the Center for Drug and Health Plan Choice, said at the meeting. Items touched on at the final meeting included fraud and abuse, payment accuracy and electronic medical records. The legislative language in the reform law eliminating PPAC did not give a detailed explanation for why lawmakers wanted it gone. But the title of the provision reads, "Focusing CMS Resources On Potentially Overvalued Codes." One of the responsibilities of the Medicare agency is to make necessary revisions to the amount it pays for particular service codes to reflect changes in medical practice, a process during which it seeks the advice of all types of physicians through a separate, AMA-convened committee. Disappointed members PPAC members said they hoped they could have kept working with CMS on fee-for-service administrative issues that are important to physicians, and they were disappointed to hear the council was ending. "It sent out the message that our input was not wanted or desired, and that's very disheartening," said Joseph Giaimo, DO, a Florida pulmonary care physician and board member of the American Osteopathic Assn. "It's disconcerting, because the philosophy of the health reform bill is to move forward in a timely fashion with innovative ideas. A lot of provisions in the new bill are about streamlining health services, and that's what PPAC was about." Arthur D. Snow Jr., MD, a council member and family physician in Shawnee Mission, Kan., said PPAC's elimination came as a bit of surprise. Still, he said the members had some inkling that the March 8 meeting would be the last when a new person was not named to replace outgoing Chair Vincent Bufalino, MD, a clinical cardiologist and president and CEO of Midwest Heart Specialists in the Chicago area. Dr. Snow acknowledged that the public forum for practicing physicians to engage the federal government did not always have the desired effect. "CMS has talked in circles, and it seemed like at times they weren't listening to our concerns. But hopefully we've given them some good input," he said. "We're just disappointed that this valuable tool is no longer available for physicians to communicate to CMS." Other options available to doctors Sebelius and CMS officials stressed that physicians still have numerous ways besides PPAC to keep communicating with the agency, including feedback groups, regular conference calls and public comments on Medicare regulations. The American Medical Association noted that its direct mode of contact with the agency relays physicians' interests to those who need to consider them. "It's unfortunate that this physician advisory committee has been dissolved, but it's important to note that AMA and its partners in organized medicine communicate with CMS officials on a regular basis to ensure that the voice and concerns of the physician community are heard loud and clear," said AMA President J. James Rohack, MD. For example, Dr. Rohack pointed out that the administration recently followed the AMA's counsel by removing the cost of physician-administered drugs from the calculation of the Medicare physician payment formula, a move that decreased the projected cost of a pay overhaul. The AMA also was able to convince the administration to make important changes to Medicare's recovery audit contractor program, and to push back deadlines for physicians to adopt new Medicare electronic transaction standards and code sets. And even though PPAC is not going to be around, some of those familiar with the group said its message will not be forgotten. One of them is William Rogers, MD, director of the Physicians Regulatory Issues Team, a group that works to reduce the regulatory burden on physicians who participate in Medicare. "I think they did a wonderful job, although sometimes their concerns were not immediately aligned with those of CMS," said Dr. Rogers, who is also an emergency physician at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. "Their role was to make sure it was understood what life was like in the physician's office." Dr. Giaimo said he plans to stay involved in physician advocacy work, something that he took very seriously as a PPAC member. "I took time away from my family and practice to represent my profession with concerns that we all have."

[stevie_d_64]

Doctor...

I have this “ping”...What do you think???

;-)