Physicians, Hospitals Ask Lawmakers to Pass Mcare Relief
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Lynne Coslett-Charlton, MD, discusses the importance of continued Mcare abatement.
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Mcare abatement is what helps Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital in Wellsboro provide obstetrical care to the residents of Tioga County.
If the hospital could no longer provide care, county residents would have to travel more than an hour to receive care, said hospital president and CEO Jan Fisher.
That could become a reality because the hospital's only OB-GYN is retiring, and the hospital has been unable to recruit a replacement.
Abatement also is what helps OB-GYN Lynne Coslett-Charlton, MD, of Wilkes-Barre afford her medical liability premiums so that her patients don’t have to drive half an hour down a rural highway to find a physician to deliver a baby.
Fisher and Dr. Coslett-Charlton joined other hospital staff and physicians in the Capitol on Sept. 16, 2008, to ask lawmakers to preserve access to health care in Pennsylvania by passing Mcare relief legislation. The press conference was sponsored by the Pennsylvania Medical Society and The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP).
Those speaking at the press conference called on lawmakers to end a political impasse on Mcare abatement, health care coverage for the uninsured, and renewal of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). Since its funding authorization expired in June 2008, PHC4 has been kept open temporarily through an executive order from Gov. Ed Rendell.
"Unfortunately, three issues have been woven together and as a result your physicians and hospitals, the uninsured, and PHC4 are caught in the middle," said Peter S. Lund, MD, president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society.
"Action on Mcare is needed to ensure that our state is able to retain physicians currently practicing in our state and to recruit new physicians," agreed Carolyn F. Scanlan, president and CEO of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.
Craig Hillemeier, MD, vice dean of clinical affairs at the Penn State College of Medicine, said two-thirds of physicians who attend medical school in Pennsylvania will practice medicine outside the state.
Penn State medical student Timothy Deimling explained that he may have to consider offers outside of Pennsylvania because he will owe $250,000 in student loans when he graduates.
"Offers from Pennsylvania typically aren’t competitive because of high medical liability insurance rates coupled with other problems," he said.
The Pennsylvania Medical Society has launched a campaign urging all physicians to contact their legislators and the governor and ask them to support extension of Mcare abatement. The State Society also supports expansion of health care coverage for the uninsured.
Last Updated: 9/20/2008