Between increased workloads due to staffing shortages, insufficient pay and a growing lack of autonomy in employed settings, unionization has breached a number of health systems and physician communities.
Physician unions already exist throughout the U.S., largely led by physician residents and fellows. On Aug. 7, one such physician union won a victory at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, Calif. The residents and fellows at Kern, represented by the hCommittee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Local 1957, won a new contract that included a 30% raise in pay and other worker protections.
One physician expressed skepticism with the idea of physician unionization. "For doctors in either private practice or hospital employment, … the benefits [of unionization] may be less tangible. I would imagine for those exclusively in private practice, the idea of having larger numbers to take on insurance companies may seem attractive, but is likely to be ineffective," said Martin Yorath, DPM, and medical director at the Rosalind Franklin University Health Clinics. He has worked in both the U.S. and U.K. medical systems.
"That is why we have national organizations such as the AMA, AOA, APMA and others who are supposed to represent their members' interests," he added.
For Dr. Yorath, the question of whether physicians should unionize doesn't address the core of the issues that physicians are concerned about and are unionizing against.
"On that latter note, I think that a far more fundamental concern for our healthcare delivery forces to be considering, is should we be moving towards some form of national or 'care for all' type program," he said. "Then, I think earnest discussion can begin about unionization. Until then, I think that outside of smaller healthcare systems, all unionization may do is produce further fragmentation."