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Doctors Council Achieve 3-year, 10.6% Increase for 225 Doctors at Lincoln Hospital

New York, NY: Doctors Council, the union representing attending physicians and dentists at public medical institutions in the New York Metropolitan Area, announced a 10.6% 3-year contract for the 225 doctors it represents at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx.   The union announced the contract with Downtown Bronx Medical Associates, an HHC affiliate that employs the doctors at Lincoln, following member ratification on November 9^th.

Lincoln doctors will receive a 3% increase retroactive to July 1, 2006, another 3% on July 1, 2007 and 4.25% on July 1, 2008. Doctors at Lincoln Hospital first affiliated with Doctors Council in 2000.  This is Doctors Council’s third contract with Downtown Bronx Medical Associates at Lincoln.

“Doctors Council has made vast strides in protecting patient care and improving the working conditions for our members at Lincoln Hospital and throughout the public healthcare system,” said Barry Liebowitz, M.D., President of Doctors Council. “This new contract continues in that tradition, providing doctors with fair economic gains in base salary and in a number of other areas key to retaining and recruiting good doctors.”

Other significant details of the Lincoln contract include:

• Minimum “sessional” or overtime rate of $75.00 per hour, now expanded to include all employees.
  
  
• Increased employer contributions to the Doctors Council Benefit Plan, from $1,250 a year to $1,750 in the third year of the contract.
  
  
• Increased Continuing Medical Education (CME) reimbursable amounts including a new minimum of $1,500 per year (up from $1,250 a year); expansion of the definition of CME reimbursable expenses to include license registration, subscription to medical journals, prep time for board certification or recertification exams and Internet-based medical education programs.

Founded in 1973, Doctors Council is the nation’s oldest and largest union of attending physicians, representingmore than 3,000 doctors based largely at New York City’s municipal hospitals, clinics and agencies including most HHC facilities.It is currently among the city’s fastest growing unions, having organized doctors at 11 medical facilities in the last 5 years.In 1999, Doctors Council affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  As part of that affiliation, Doctors Council partnered with the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) and formed the National Doctors Alliance (NDA) which represents over 17,000 doctors nationwide.

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