Rx for Greed

   Fact: The tax-funded North Broward Hospital District has maintained a practice of over-compensating its employed physicians for decades.
   And so...

   In 2010,  a local orthopedic physician filed a "fair trade" Stark Law violation complaint with the US Department of Justice alleging the District was paying its employed physicians far above "fair market" rates.

  This January (2016) -- and without admitting guilt - the District paid a settlement fee of nearly $70 million with the understanding the Justice Department would drop the case.

  And now...
  District attorneys (at huge costs in legal fees) are attempting to establish new contracts with dozens of Broward Health's physician-employees.

   Trouble is, the District's policy of over-compensating its employed physicians dates back to the 1970's when powerful members of both the local Democratic party and the District's governing Board of Commissioners inaugurated a policy of fat paychecks for its employed physicians in return for the doctors' campaign contributions to select local and state candidates running for office.

    Anyhow..

    The major obstacle facing any serious attempt to address the historic problem of the District's fat physician paychecks lies in what constitutes "fair market compensation for a doctor employee,

    How so?

    Consider the varrious ways physicians employed by the District benefit financially:

    1. Their basic compensation   .

    2.  The cost of their practice (staff, equipment, supplies,   

         office, etc.)
    3. Their sovereign immunity as public employees (and District-paid malpractice insurance)

    4. Their legal fees generated during contract negotiations         with the District - as well as the cost of lawyers
        representing the hospitals

    So what kind of dollars are we talking about?

    Well, there's the District cost of Dr. Erol Yoldas, a

 District-employed local Orthopedic surgeon.

    $2,339,178 in FY 2013
    $2,526,340 in FY 2014
    $2,087,090 in FY 2015
    $2,111,298 in FY  2019.
    Again, based on current District financial data, the average physician employed by Broward Health earns more than $400,000 a year.
    Nation-wide, however, the average:

    Specialist earns $284,000 a year.*
    Primary  care physician earns $195,000 a year.*
    But...

    Consider the District's  generosity in compensating certain physicians as detailed in  the current budgeted cost of Broward Health's million dollar-plus docs like:

     $1,010,262 - Amy Relkin, Pediatrics
     $1,024,639 - Michael Chizner, Cardiology

     $1,483,664 - George Caldwell, Orthopedic surgeon

     $1,270,184 - Daniel Kanell, Orthopedic surgeon

     $1,854,719 - William Burke, Orthopedic surgeon

     $1,645,542 - Dominic Carreir, Orthopedic  surgeon

     $1,049,355 - Arnaud Blanchard, Cardiologist

     $1,055,297 - Kenneth Herskowitz, Heart surgeon

     $1,212,505 - Mohammed El Sayed, Cardiologist

     $1,122,652 - Lousi Cioci, Cardiologist
     $1,532,947 - Ashok Sharma, Cardiologist

     $1,112,239 - Violet McCormack, Cardiologist

     $1,321,810 - Marc Aueron, Cardiologist
     $1,424,225 - Barry Berman, Hematology Oncology

     Obvious question, of course:
     Will the Governor's Inspector General look into the cost of the District's physicians?
     Stay tuned!
                                           *Medscape Magazine - 2015

Stupid is as stupid does

     Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln...
     So goes the newsroom cliche concerning journalists  "blowing" a Big Story by reporting the arcane.
     Which brings us to today's (4/9/16) winner:
     David Fleshler of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
     Who, on the front page of the newspaper's local section, wrote:
     "A hearing on David Di Pietro's future as chairman of the Broward Health board ended Friday without a decision after a judge heard two hours of arguments about his suspension by Gov. Rick Scott."
      I could  go on with the 21 inches of type Fleshler devotes to telling his readers little happened concerning the Governor's recent suspension of the head of the nation's ninth largest public hospital system's governing Board of Commissioners.
      However...
      As a newsroom dinosaur disgusted by the lack of meaning and context in what passes for journalism in the 21st century, Fleshler is the dim bulb sort of reporter who  might have written about the "disturbance during Act III" - had he been present at Ford's Theater on an April evening in 1865.

The disturbance during Act III

         Anyhow...
         What Fleshler failed to report in his Journalism Lite coverage of Broward's $1.9 billion health care system:
      The North Broward Hospital District
                               dba Broward Health
                    (First eight months of fiscal years)
                       
                                       2015                     2016
Adjusted Admissions 79,200                  79,116 
Gross Revenue             $2,631,100,000     $2,617,805,000
Deductions
   Bad Debt                   ($265,340,044)      ($290,539,757
   Per adj. admit            ($3,350)                 ($3,672)
   Indigent Care            ($109,431,449)       ($106,341,738)
   Per adj. admit           ($1,382)                  ($1,344)            
   3rd Party Other         ($1,619,214,000)    ($1,634,465,000)
   Per adj. admit           ($20,445)                ($20,659)   Total
   Deductuions             ($1,993,986,000)     ($2,031,346,000)
    Per adj. admit          ($25,177)                 ($25,676)           Reimbursement
    Medicare                  $143,970,902           $126,516,768
    Per adj. admit          $1,818                      $1,599 
    Medicaid                  $44,438,776             $32,254,593
    Per adj. admit          $560                         $407
    Private  Insured        $457,307,551          $457,558,657      
    Per adj. admit          $5,774                      $5,783                           Minus                       ($21,898,020)       ($16,576,632)
    Per adj. admit         ($264)                       ($209)
   Total                         $623,819,209           $599,753,386
   Per adj. admit           $7,876 l                    $7,581             
   Other Revenue         $169,756,685           $111,096,465
   Per adj. admit           $2,143                      $1,404
   Total Revenue        $793,565,894           $610,849,851
   Per adj. admit           $10,020                    $7,721
   Total Expenses      $738,048.975           $670,053,319
   Per adj. admit          $9,318                      $8,469 
   Total Surplus          $55,516,919            ($59,203,478)
   Per adj. admit          $702                        ($748)
            Source: North Broward Hospital District
                             Board of Commissioners
                             Finance Committee