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DOCTORS COUNCIL NEGOTIATES HIGHER PAY, MORE
HIRINGS AND NO FIRINGS AT
HARLEM HOSPITAL

NEW CONTRACT WILL KEEP EXPERIENCED DOCTORS IN THE
HARLEM COMMUNITY

New York, NY (March 4, 2004): Yesterday, doctors at Harlem Hospital and Renaissance Community Health Network overwhelmingly ratified an approximately 3-year or 39-month contract with Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. [1] Doctors Council and its affiliate, the United Doctors Association at Harlem Hospital negotiated the contract which provides doctors with a 2% increase retroactive to January 1, 2004; a 2% increase on January 1, 2005 and a third increase which will be determined by the outcome of Doctors Council’s negotiations on behalf of doctors employed by the City of New York.  Some departments received minimum salary boosts between 5% and 36% on top of the across-the-board percentage increases.

“We are very pleased to announce a new contract at Harlem Hospital – one that raises doctors’ salaries and increases their overall benefits, but which also goes a long way toward retaining and attracting experienced doctors in the Harlem community,” said Barry Liebowitz, M.D., President of Doctors Council.  “I am especially grateful to the many elected officials, community, labor and religious leaders who stood with us over the past several months as we fought layoffs and other service cuts at the hospital.  We now have contract language and good faith agreements that protect our doctors and the community they serve.”

As part of Doctors Council’s negotiation with Columbia, the hospital will not pursue planned layoffs and will instead keep some of those doctors targeted for lay-offs at the hospital while redeploying 8 other doctors to facilities within the Generations +/ Northern Manhattan Network located throughout the Harlem community.  These doctors will stay as employees of Columbia and keep their healthcare and pension benefits.  Furthermore, as result of our negotiation, Columbia has committed to hiring 12-15 more doctors at Harlem Hospital to maintain the level of healthcare service to the community.

Additional highlights of the Harlem Hospital contract include:

• Adoption of the Doctors Council benefit plan which will enable doctors at Harlem to receive, for the first time:
  • Full dental coverage
  • Optical coverage
  • Healthcare reimbursement benefits which will give doctors up to $300 in their out-of-pocket medical costs like co-pays and medications.
  • Hearing aid benefits
  • No fee and low fee legal services
• Departmental minimum salary increases:
  • 12% increase for board certified anesthesiologists
  • 26% increase for  board certified anesthesiologists with fellowship
  • 5-18% increase for radiologists, depending upon seniority 
  • 25% increase for intensivists (depts. of medicine and surgery)
  • 36% increase for interventionists (dept of radiology)
  • 14% increase for mammographers (dept. of radiology)
• No givebacks: originally doctors were asked to give up 5 days allotted for Continuing Medical Education, but Doctors Council successfully kept those days.
• New contract language which locks in paid compensation for overtime.
• New board certification differentials, which give doctors with 2 board certifications $1000 and doctors with 3 board certifications $1,500 added to their base salaries.
• New contract language establishes key doctors rights including:
  • The ability to access their personnel file for the first time and be able to respond to their evaluations.
  • The right to union representation at investigatory meetings.
  • A no retaliation clause for doctors who speak up on patient care issues.
• The establishment of a Patient Care Committee, where doctors and management will regularly meet to discuss patient care issues.
• The settlement of a past grievance filed by an emergency room doctor who will now receive at least $10,000 in back-pay.

Doctors Council, an organization of doctors, by doctors, and for doctors, is the nation's oldest and largest union of attending physicians in the United States, with over 3,700 members in the New York Metropolitan Area.  On March 1, 1999 Doctors Council affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  As part of the affiliation, Doctors Council partnered with two of SEIU’s locals, the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) and the former United Salaried Physicians and Dentists (USPD) to create the National Doctors Alliance.           

The National Doctors Alliance has a membership of over 16,000 members nationwide. and its major functions are to address issues of common concern for doctors, and to determine the best and most efficient course of action for organizing new members here and around the country.

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[1] Under its affiliation with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons provides doctors to Harlem Hospital.