Low pay fuels physician shortage
By SHANTEE WOODARDS, Staff Writer HometownAnnapolis.com Published February 19, 2009

The state's physician shortage will get worse if lawmakers don't adopt changes that would make Maryland more attractive to doctors, experts said yesterday.

Hundreds of patients, doctors and business leaders turned out for a rally in Annapolis to decry a system that has made Maryland's doctors among the lowest paid in the country.

Officials from MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society, said lawmakers could improve this environment by adopting eight bills that are currently in the House and Senate. The bills would lure new physicians to the state as well as require insurance companies to reduce their premiums when there is an excessive surplus of their risk-based capital.

In 2007, the Maryland Hospital Association conducted a physician work force study that found the state has 16 percent fewer physicians per thousand than the national average.

Within Maryland, the central region - including Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Carroll, Howard, Harford and Baltimore counties - was ahead of the rest of the state, with 197 physicians per 100,000 residents. The state average is 178 physicians per 100,000 residents.

"Maryland has a health care crisis. … It is one that affects every patient and every business," said Dr. Ron Sroka, a primary care physician in Crofton and president of MedChi. "Something has gone wrong in Maryland, and we don't know what it is."

He cited a 2005 Government Accountability Office study on physician reimbursements that ranked Baltimore at the bottom of a list tabulating 319 metropolitan areas. The study ranked Washington, D.C., at 316 and Cumberland at 253. The Cumberland ranking also included West Virginia, which has higher reimbursement figures.

Some lawmakers who attended the rally said they are doing what they can to make changes.

"We do know we do need to reimburse you," House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Annapolis, said as he encouraged those attending the rally to continue to contact their lawmakers about issues. "This is a people business, a representative business."

Claire Louder, executive director of the West Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, said businesses are also struggling with health insurance payments.

She noted the case of one chamber member whose insurance costs increased 100 percent since starting the business, far outpacing profits.

She also related the story of an acquaintance who underwent a $62,000 procedure, but whose surgeon received a reimbursement that was less than half that amount to pay for the procedure and months of follow-up care.

"Our members are frustrated. … The cost of health insurance is skyrocketing" Louder said. "It leaves business owners wondering, 'Are we paying more in premiums than we would in direct care?' "