New law would give “critical” recruiting tool to Sonoma Valley Hospital

A state bill that would allow Sonoma Valley Hospital to directly hire and employ doctors – an ability called critical to the hospital’s survival – has cleared the California State Assembly and will be heard by a Senate committee next week.
AB 646, which would allow California’s 75 health care districts to directly employ up to 10 physicians each, was sponsored by Sandre Swanson (D-Alameda). Assembly members Jared Huffman and Noreen Evans, who each represents part of Sonoma Valley, both supported the bill, which passed 57-15.
Monday’s reading in the Senate Business & Professions Committee will be the first in the Senate. Mike Smith, former health care district board member, was in Sacramento last week to lobby on behalf of the bill, which would address an acute shortage of doctors in rural areas.
“Our physician recruitment program is critical for our continued existence,” said district board chairman Bill Boerum. “The majority of young doctors we are attempting to recruit are not interested in establishing a costly independent practice. We are at a distinct disadvantage if we can’t offer the cost savings and efficiencies of direct employment.”
The California Medical Association opposes the bill, preferring the current relationship of hospitals contracting for services from independent doctors and medical groups. Speaking for the CMA, Amber Pasricha-Beck said doctors must remain free from corporate influence. “It can take decisions out of a doctor’s hands. When the hospital administration is in charge, care can suffer. It’s more of a bottom-line point of view.”
Swanson said in a written statement that those concerns are unfounded. “This bill specifically prohibits any influence of the practice of medicine by any of hospitals involved,” he said. And in other states that allow direct access to physicians, “We haven’t found evidence that there’s been a problem.”
District hospitals such as Sonoma’s, Boerum said, often provide a safety net in urban and rural areas. AB 646 is a way legislators from both parties can support district hospitals without any cost to the state. “Its passage is critical to the survival of our hospital,” he said.