Becker's ASC Review

36 HEALTHCARE NEWS 36 USC Keck physicians vote to join union By Kelly Gooch R esident and fellow physicians at the University of South- ern California's Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles have voted to unionize with the Committee of Interns and Residents. The physicians unanimously voted in favor of union representa- tion after a campaign focused on a desire for living wages and representation at their workplace, the union said in a May 5 news release shared with Becker's. "Every day, my peers and I risk our lives to serve our communi- ty and ensure that our patients are getting the best quality care we can provide," Eduardo Fernandez, MD, a fellow in hematol- ogy and medical oncology, said in the release. "With a seat at the table, we will advocate for the support that residents and patients alike deserve." The Committee of Interns and Residents represents peers of USC Keck School of Medicine physicians at Los Angeles County hospitals, including LAC+USC Medical Center. At USC Keck School of Medicine, election results must be certi- fied by the National Labor Relations Board before they are final. If certified, the union will bargain on behalf of 85 resident and fellow physicians at the medical school. In a statement shared with Becker's, USC said: "We support the rights of our employees to choose whether they want to join a union. We appreciate the residents' decision and greatly value their partnership in delivering quality healthcare to patients across Los Angeles County." The Committee of Interns and Residents is a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union. The union represents more than 20,000 resident physicians and fellows in the U.S. n Nearly 1 in 4 physicians experience workplace mistreatment: 3 notes By Cailey Gleeson N early 24 percent of physicians experienced workplace mistreatment in the past year, according to new research published May 6 in JAMA Network Open. Researchers from Boston Medical Center and Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine surveyed 1,505 physicians on the clinical faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine in Septem- ber and October 2020 to assess the frequency and sources of mistreatment among physicians. Noted limitations to the study include the binary gender classification for survey respondents and lack of assessment for frequency or severity of mistreatment experiences. Three key findings: • Patients and visitors were the most common source of mistreatment, reported by 16.6 percent of polled physicians. • Women were more than twice as likely as men to experience mistreatment. • On a scale of 0 to 10, mistreatment was associated with a 1.13 point increase in burnout, a 0.99 point decrease in professional fulfillment and 129 percent higher odds of moderate or greater intent to leave. n Physician 'gold card' exemptions for prior authorizations gain steam By Alia Paavola States are looking at ways to improve the prior authorization process for providers, including "gold card" exemptions. Gold carding is a prior authorization reform supported by numer- ous organizations, including the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, American Pharmacists Association and American Academy of Family Physicians. Under these exemptions, physicians that have high prior authoriza- tion approval rates are exempt from prior authorization requirements for certain services. In recent years, states began to implement these laws. West Virginia was first to pass a "gold card" exemption for providers in 2019. Under that state's policy, providers are exempt from prior authorization rules if they have a 100 percent approval rate on a certain service for six months. More recently, Texas passed a law that exempts physi- cians who have a 90 percent prior authorization approval rate over a six-month period on certain services from needing to submit prior authorizations for those services. Other states are looking at adding these exemptions. For example, Vermont is piloting a program that rewards providers with 100 per- cent prior authorization approval rates for a procedure performed at least 30 times per year over a six-month window. Other states that have introduced gold card legislation include New York, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Oklahoma. n

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