Hospitals Like Payroll Medicine by PHIL YEAGER and Hospital—Is Making Its Appear- Scious Doctors Gravitate Toward the Court Forced Discontinuance JOHN STARK Met
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A-24 THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, D. C. SPNPAT. AUQUST IS. ISS7 SALAMED DOC TORS—SOCIALISM? Hospitals Like Payroll Medicine By PHIL YEAGER and hospital—is making its appear- scious doctors gravitate toward The court forced discontinuance JOHN STARK Met. each other. of the arrangement as an “Illegal ft "socialised medicine” walk- Among other reasons which Certain specialists in the medi- corporate practice of medicine.” ing in America’s back door? prompt them, hospitals are hav- cal profession are thus joining Moreover, its decision seems to A lot of professional people on ing a difficult time making ends hospital staffs, on salary, at a have carried particular weight the inside of the medical scene meet. Many are operating in the rapidly increasing rate: This is since the defendant hospital in are beginning wonder. red. Through no fault of their especially true of doctors working the case was a nan-profit organi- to own. they need money Ptaviously, element and frankly in medical areas such as anes- zation which claimed exemption the classic admit it. One way getting thesia, pathology, sponsorship of the radiology, psy- from the law on that basis. It of Government and money is via salaried employes chiatry control is absent, but one of the and treatment by radio- made no difference. licensed to practice medicine. The active processes. adopt sure symptoms of the socialised by Whether other States will theory is that being able to bill Across the field, the potent strong medicine concept—the salaried patients attitudes as as lowa’s is a physician—is waxing for doctors services as State and national medical or- question only the future can an- strong on a well as hospital care, the national basis. hospitals' ganizations which want the trend swer. But the AMA and its satel- can make enough to pay their reversed believe they have two big reported hopeful Curiously employed lites are of . enough, this little- medics and have a tidy forces working (I) The making produce publicised development for them: the future more in United amount left over. law, and (2) the British example. such answers with a minimum of States medical practice is reported What’s wrong with this? While the number of court bat- delay. to be splitting the two most pow- The organised medical view—- tles involving the point have been erful entities in the field—the hos- with which, incidentally, many few, is No High Court Decision pitals it established in American and the organised medical pliyaidans disagree—is that the law that corporations which The lone case of the kind ever societies. salaried practitioner leads to hospitals are cannot practice appealed to the United States The hospitals would prefer to mediocre medicine. He works a medicine. Supreme Court, by the way, was have more doctors and staff mem- 40-hour week and is likely to A few States have expressly refused certiorari. It was a Cali- bers as salaried employes. The produce an inferior brand of “40- provided to this effect in statutes. fornia dispute which the Supreme doctors, or at least the big medi- hour medicine.” As a salaried Most of them, however, cover the Court at that time (1939) appar- cal societies, vigorously disap- doctor he joins an administrative same ground by implication. That ently felt was purely a matter for prove. hierarchy and must hew closely to is, the statutory requirements set State decision. Os course, this In fact, the American Medical the medical views of his superior up for licensing medical practi- doesn’t guarantee a similar attl- < gets Association is evidencing an in- —or he the boot. He daze tioners are drawn so as to extend tude by today’s Court which may tent to fight only not dissent, branch out, experi- only to natural persons. well accept the next similar ap- JUST HEAT AND the trend not ment, EAT—The farmer's share of the food dollar drops as consumers demand more service. through revised codes of medical criticize accepted theories, From such laws as these the peal for review. ethics, etc. Result: Slow medical progress Courts Os Illinois, ¦ the anti-salary but in the Legislatures and at and Meanwhile, eourts of States in all parts of the best. California, for example, have uni- group points with considerable country. Whether fills theory is sound or formly deduced that the "mani- to recent reports more and effect from Lon- It willbe no small task. not. more doctors are fest intent of the Legislature” don which suggest marked dissat- finding it hard to resist the siren Processing Costs Cut Farmers' According survey was to exclude corporations isfaction among English to a recent song of steady from doctors 4 made by Medical Inc., a salary. And. like medical practice. And, courts with Economics. the hospitals, appear the their salaried schemes. an independent professional jour- these doctors add. corporations which “prac- average to be motivated primarily by fi- tice” The British doctor has nal, the percentage of doctors through employes who are earned only a little over $6,000 a going into salaried positions is nancial considerations. But their licensed may be held liable for eyes are open.' year since his one and only pay Share of Consumers' Dollar now three times greater than dur- violations of the licensing laws. raise was approved by the govern- ing the pre-World War I era. al- Offers Mors Security Itis possible to argue, and it has ment In 1951. Each doctor serves By OVID A. MARTIN fanner got about 40 cents from ting the food from the farmer to They . most twice as great as it was 12 recognize the salary been argued, that hospitals which a panel of not more than 3,500 For decades the farmer was the each food dollar and others got the dinner table. years ago. scheme means a smaller lifetime employ doctors on a salary basis patients and gets a flat annual fee major stockholder, so to speak, 60 cents. Developments indicate Labor’s share also them, but they like are actually engaging has bean About IS per cent of the doctors income for not in the of $2.38 for each. This has in the Nation’s food industry. that the farm share may drop increasing a long upward example, security They practice under graduated in 1915, for the it offers. like of medicine even though worked out to an average yearly is not so today. even lower this year, as well as in movement in the wage seals, as gone jobs. the idea of having retirement they charge patient directly salary That He has have into salaried Os an- the of $6,221 which remains relegated position the years to come. well as the addition, in nuities by employ- the physician’s been to a of a recent the mid-1940 's crop, some 27 per built for them for salaried serv- constant regardless of services minority has Much of this change reflects the years, of such worker benefits as are on salary. Today it ers. Presently, they must build ices. New York State, apparently, holder. He been cent is rendered. forced by developments to trade desire of today’s housewife to turn social insurance, private pensions, estimated that 40 per cent of the their own. without the benefits takes this view. Even more serious. United places over to others the task of preserv- grants security with processors and dis- welfare and compensation new medics will become salaried. either of social or tax The precise point was recently States medical groups say, is the tributors. ing, preparing and even cooking for injuries. exemption on income put aside raised in a legal battle fact that their British counter- Brooder Opportunity between the top the family meals. This is reflected for the purpose. They lean Hospital parts feel desperately by When farmer was the Wage Rates Rising the lowa Association and limited man, of the money con- in a steady increase in retail sales One of the big reasons for this, toward the happy thought of reg- the lowa State the well-meaning but medically the bulk reports Board of Medical sumers spent went to of cakes, pies and other pastries Government show that of course, is the increased oppor- ular hours, a status in which they . Examiners. The contention of the ignorant the lay for food average hourly administration of the tillers of the soil. In the early which once were baked in the the earnings of tunity for salaried jobs. Industry are not likely to be pressed hospital, which followed the fore- office holders who regulate the food Industry an setting up into duty any years of the country, processing home. workers increased and business have been at moment and going procedure in regard to its country's medical practice. Small It is prepared average of 5 per year and because which they count and transportation played minor reflected in cake cent last their own health programs of can pathological and X-ray depart- wonder, they add, that a fifth of and pie mixes, canned and frozen and now are 50 per cent higher hiring their own doctors. Labor on holidays and adequate time flatly rejected upcoming roles. This was particularly true ments, was in court. Britain’s young doctors processing. soups, pre-prepared meats and than in the 1947-49 average. organizations are beginning to fol- with their families. Finally, in Itwas all right hospital are migrating of for the to Australia, Canada bought vegetables, and numerous other Total profits taxes low suit. Many private clinics and view of current Federal tax struc- to provide Consumers most of their before income these facilities and bill and the United States.