Helping to Protect the Oral Health Program at the Department of Health

The dentists who work in the Oral Health Program take care of the public school children that attend New York City’s schools in a program that is over 100 years old, beginning in 1903.  The oral health care that our public children receive is vital to many and for some is the only dental care they receive, ranging from to preventative procedures, cleanings and annual checkups to diagnosing and treating dental conditions.  The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) is laying off over 34% of the dentists and furloughing (not working over the summer months) another over 10% of the dentists.  In addition, the DOHMH is laying off dental assistants as well as furloughing dental assistants.  The layoffs will occur between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

The DOHMH actions will result in the closure of 9 dental clinics, reductions in hours at another 25 dental clinics, the loss of 194 hours of dental care per week to New York City children, and the further loss of up to 100 hours of dental care per week over the summer furlough months.  The impact of the DOHMH actions not only hurt the children in our public schools but also the parents, as if parents cannot get their children dental care as now in school, then parents will have to take off from work and travel distances for dental care for the children.   For many this may not be an option, having to choose between losing a job and/or income or have a child suffer bad or no dental care.  Further, there is not enough staffing of dentists and dental assistants now; with the layoffs and furloughs the proper oral health care needs of our public school children will suffer.  A healthier student learns better and medical literature associates a correlation between poor dental care and heart disease.

Members of Doctors Council have been taking the case of protecting the Oral Health Program at the Department of Health to parents and politicians.

There is a New York City Council hearing on this important issue on Monday, November 20th at 1:00 PM in the City Council Chambers (Health Care Committee Oversight Hearing) 

[Please note that the City Council hearing will not occur as we were able to resolve the matter with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (see Home Page]

(From L to R) Drs. Leslie Joseph, Samina Ahmed, Ayelet Yoles, Allen Brown and Margaret Mahoney
after a meeting on Oral Health with the New York City Public Advocate’s (Betsy Gotbaum) office

Contract Successes Continue:
Doctors Council Achieve 3-year, 10.6% Increase for 225 Doctors at Lincoln Hospital

Doctors Council members at HHC’s Lincoln Hospital ratified a new contract with the Downtown Bronx Medical Associates P.C. (“DBMA”) on Thursday, November 9, 2006.  The DBMA P.C. employs the doctors at HHC’s (New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation) Lincoln Hospital and is the affiliate for this hospital.  The contract covers approximately 225 doctors and is for 3 years, from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2009.  This is Doctors Council’s third contract with DBMA at Lincoln Hospital, as the doctors there joined Doctors Council in 2000.

DBMA PC doctors of Lincoln Hospital win new contract

Highlights of the contract include the following:

• Contract language improvement regarding scheduling of doctors, including advance notice to doctors of when they are scheduled and quicker responses for time off requests.
  
  
• Health and Safety contract language gains, including protections for working conditions.
  
  
• Economics:
  • 3-year wage increase totaling 10.6% compounded.
  • 3% retroactive to July 1, 2006, 3% on July 1, 2007 and 4.25% on July 1, 2008.
  • An increase for some doctors, in “sessional rates” for when a doctor works beyond their regular hours and an expansion of sessional rates to include all doctors (as some were previously not covered).  Some departments make more than the minimum sessional hourly rate. 
  • CME (Continuing Medical Education) The contract calls for an increase in CME reimbursement.  In addition, we expanded the usage of CME reimbursable expenses to include not just conferences, but also license registration, subscriptions to medical journals, preparing for or taking board certification or recertification exams, taking audio/video or on-line internet based medical education programs, and any other professional licensure or CME costs or fess related to the practice of medicine.

In October 2006, Doctors Council members at HHC’s (New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation) Elmhurst and Queens Hospitals employed by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine ratified two new contracts.   The contracts cover approximately 350 doctors, 220 at Elmhurst Hospital and 130 at Queens Hospital.  The contracts are for 3 years, from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2009.

This is Doctors Council’s first contract at Elmhurst Hospital, as the doctors there joined Doctors Council in January 2005, and Doctors Council’s second contract at Queens Hospital, as the doctors there joined Doctors Council in late 2002.  The key to winning these great new contracts was the doctors speaking in one voice through Doctors Council not just within each hospital, but supporting each other across the two hospitals, as the doctors working at the two hospitals are all employed by Mount Sinai.  The doctors attended en masse numerous bargaining sessions with Mount Sinai and the sea of white coats sent a message of unity.  A petition was submitted to Mount Sinai signed by over 90% of the doctors at both hospitals in support of the bargaining goals.

Highlights of the contracts include the following:

• New Patient Care Committees that have doctors meet with administration to discuss and recommend ways to improve patient care and to work toward the improvement of patient care.  This was a very important issue for the doctors, who wanted a greater and stronger voice on patient care.
  
  
• A Labor-Management Committee to discuss and address doctors’ issues in general with management, including maintaining work conditions and work loads conducive to teaching (medical students and residents, as Elmhurst and Queens Hospitals are teaching hospitals).
  
  
• Important contract language gains, such as in Employee Rights.  Doctors now have greater protections in their workplace rights, such as having Doctors Council representation at meetings and to assist on issues.
  
  
• Economics:
  • 3-year wage increase totaling 10.6% compounded.
    
    
  • 3% retroactive to July 1, 2006, 3% on July 1, 2007 and 4.25% on July 1, 2008.
    
    
  • To aid in recruitment and retention, the department of Surgery will get over 15% increases in the first year (July 1, 2006).
    
    
  • A new minimum annual salary of $125,000.00 for every new hire or incumbent doctor effective July 1, 2006.  In other words, no one can make less than this amount.
    
    
  • At Queens Hospital, the doctors gained extra paid vacation days, ranging from one more per year after 5 years of service, 3 more after 10 years of service, 4 more after 15 years of service and a full week’s paid additional vacation after 25 years of service.
    
    
  • An increase, retroactive to July 1, 2006, in “sessional rates” and a new minimum sessional rate for when a doctor works beyond his/her regular hours.  The new minimum sessional hourly rate is a 25% increase.  Some departments make more than the minimum sessional hourly rate. 
    
    
  • New weekend differential and one day off with pay for each month of service coverage.
    
    
  • CME (Continuing Medical Education) was a very important issue for the doctors.  The new contracts lock in 10 paid days off for CME, plus gained a new 2 additional paid days off for preparing for or taking board certification examinations.  There was never a guaranteed minimum amount of CME expenses reimbursable.  Now, there will be a minimum CME reimbursable amount of $2,000.00 per year.  In addition, we expanded the usage of CME reimbursable expenses to include not just conferences, but also preparing for or taking board recertification exams, taking audio/video or on-line internet based medical education programs, professional association dues and professional periodicals.

In response to the sound of dragging feet coming out of New York Medical College, whose contract with the doctors at Metropolitan Hospital and affiliated Diagnostic and Treatment Centers (D&TCs) expired in June 2005, our Bargaining Committee and membership created a Contract Campaign Action Plan. 

This involved internal and external steps as well as timely escalation.   First, we distributed and wore “We Deserve a Contract” buttons to send a clear message of unity in support of our bargaining goals.  Then, we got our colleagues to sign a petition in support of our goals that was addressed to management.  And of enormous importance, we had a great turnout from our doctors in all departments and specialties at bargaining sessions.  The sea of white coats and strong showing from our members sent a loud and visible message that was heard. 

New York Medical College Contract Success

We were ready to attend the hospital’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) and the neighborhood’s Community Board meetings, as well as distribute petitions and flyers to the community and patients.   Visits to local politicians and the media were also discussed.   However, no external measures were needed as we received a request for a marathon bargaining session which was ultimately successful, resulting in a new contract reached in late December 2005.

Our contract is a 3-year deal through June 30, 2008, that calls for 3% increases each year on July 1^st, including a 3% increase retroactive to July 1, 2005.   There were also increases to the contract salary minimums both for incoming doctors and incumbent doctors that resulted in larger increases to certain specialties retroactive to November 1, 2005, to aid in recruitment and retention. 

Other contract improvements include increases in session pay (compensation for extra hours worked beyond regular work schedule) for certain departments, a new Longevity Differential for doctors with 20 or more years of service (adding to the existing 5, 10 and 15 years) as well as an additional paid days off.  In addition, Continuing Medical Education (CME) reimbursement was expanded to cover professional licenses, professional association dues and professional periodicals, and it was agreed that the geographic location of CME could not be a basis for denying CME.  Board Certification differentials were expanded to include the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or any of its member organizations.

Lynn Chao, M.D., and Susan Williams, M.D., Bargaining Committee members, New York Medical College at Metropolitan Hospital

“The key to our contract success is recognizing that we - the doctors and members - are the Union.  We are as strong as the involvement of our members.  All the doctors from the different departments and specialties spoke as one and stood united through Doctors Council.  We sent a strong message to administration and management when so many doctors showed up to bargaining wearing our buttons and collectively expressing our goals.  We put together a contract action campaign plan and stuck to it.  This directly resulted in us achieving the contract we did, which was a whole lot more than what was being offered to us.”

Bargaining at Bergen Ends in Great Contract

Doctors at the Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, New Jersey ratified a contract in November 2005 that provides our members with a 12% increase over 3 years along with several other significant increases.  This is the second contract that Doctors Council negotiated on behalf of the doctors at Bergen Regional.  The contract was achieved after six (6) months of long and difficult but rewarding negotiations.

The schedule for salary increases begins retroactively with a 2% increase effective March 15, 2005 and another retroactive increase of 2% on September 15, 2005.   Additional 2% increases take effect on March 15, 2006, July 15, 2006, March 15, 2007 and September 15, 2007 for a cumulative total of 12% over a 3-year period ending on March 14, 2008.

“In addition to salary needs, we identified several areas that required significant improvements including CME compensation, salary minimums and overtime pay.  Though the process may have been long, ultimately, we were able to achieve our goals and ratify a very good contract for our doctors,” said William Bristow, M.D., a Doctors Council Delegate and Bargaining Committee member.

Several “firsts” make this contract stand out.   For the first time at Bergen Regional, salary minimums were achieved without board certification differentials, and in the Department of Psychiatry, the minimum increased by 22%.  A minimum hourly rate for per diems was established, increasing by 13% over the life of the contract.  Additionally, the formula for determining compensation for Continuing Medical Education (CME) was changed, tripling the total amount of CME compensation available per year to all doctors.  Doctors working beyond their regularly scheduled hours will now receive the greater of the per diem rate or their pro-rated hourly salary, whichever is higher. 

In addition, the contract achieves a 20% increase in board certification differentials.   Hospitalists are now covered under contract provisions that had previously excluded them.  Other contract language gains include access to the employee personnel file and disciplinary protections. 

In recent months, Doctors Council has interviewed many candidates for elective office.  The criteria for endorsement was a demonstrated record in health care, a commitment to access for health care, protecting the City's hospitals and health care facilities and standing with our doctors in protecting quality and safe patient care to the patients we serve in our communities.

Political action is important in having politicians become educated about who we are as doctors and what are the issues that our patients and our profession face.  We have to ensure that our elected leaders hear our collective voices and are responsive.

"Mayor Bloomberg has made it a priority for New Yorkers in every neighborhood in all five boroughs to have access to top-notch medical care.  He has committed more than $1.2 billion to public hospitals, and since he took office, the Mayor's Office of Health Insurance Access alone has enrolled more than 225,000 eligible New Yorkers for health insurance," said Dr. Barry Liebowitz, President of Doctors Council.

Doctors Council endorsed Mayor Mike Bloomberg for re-election, citing his successes in
improving access and funding for New York's public healthcare system, and his record helping all New Yorkers live longer, healthier lives.  Under Mayor Bloomberg, our public hospitals and facilities have received their highest JCAHO (the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) scores, which rates how hospitals perform.

In a press conference outside Harlem Hospital announcing the endorsement, Doctors Council members spoke in many languages endorsing Mayor Bloomberg.  Dr. Matthews Hurley spoke in English, Dr. Sady Sultan spoke in Spanish, Dr. Fanyi Kong spoke in Chinese and Dr. Surinder Patti spoke in Punjabi. 

"It's an honor to stand with Doctors Council and accept their endorsement, but this is more than an endorsement of my campaign: this is a stamp of good health for our City," said Mayor Bloomberg. Under Mike Bloomberg, New York City has opened District Public Health Offices to provide direct medical care to residents of neighborhoods that have the most persistent community health problems.  Over 2.6 million New Yorkers depend on public healthcare programs for medical care. Under Mike Bloomberg, healthcare facilities run by the City's Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) are providing top-notch care to 1.3 million New Yorkers each year, regardless of their ability to pay.

In late January 2005, in an overwhelming vote, doctors at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York, voted nearly unanimously to affiliate with Doctors Council, which now represents nearly all of the New York City's HHC hospitals and facilities and the Department of Health (DOH).  The doctors at Elmhurst Hospital are employed by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.  Elmhurst Hospital had been represented by the Attending Physicians Association (APA), which will now operate as an affiliate of Doctors Council.  Doctors Council already represents the Mount Sinai doctors working at Queens Hospital in Jamaica.

"Our goal for Elmhurst and for all of our members is to enable doctors to deliver the best possible patient care in an environment where they are treated with respect and fairness," said Barry Liebowitz, M.D., President of Doctors Council. "As the proud union representative for the doctors at Elmhurst Hospital, we will ensure that this goal is met."

The doctors at Elmhurst Hospital are facing many issues, including enforcing their contract rights and benefits.  The ability to be respected and heard by administration and management was also a big issue.  The Elmhurst doctors realized that belong to and working with a union for doctors- Doctors Council- would enable them to have a stronger and more effective voice in addressing the concerns of the doctors and protecting patient care.  Doctors Council provides a full servicing organization for doctors, from Contract Administrators to advocate for our doctors, to legal, communication and legislative departments.

"The attending physicians at our facility have a long history of dedication to the well-being of the people of this community," noted Nina Caplin, M.D., President of the APA, which affiliated with Doctors Council.  "We view this affiliation as a great opportunity to develop innovative programs, maintain a high-quality staff and provide the best possible health care to the patients we serve."  

Elmhurst Hospital is the latest victory in a period of extraordinary growth for Doctors Council, having organized doctors at 11 facilities since 2000 including Metropolitan Hospital in Harlem, Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, the Diagnostic and Treatment Centers (D&TCs) in Northern Manhattan, Coler-Goldwater on Roosevelt Island, the medical facilities at the Ryan-Nena Community Health Center, Rikers Island, Rockland County, Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica, Bergen Regional Medical Center and the State University of Rutgers Student Health Services in New Jersey.

"Doctors Council is committed to the recruitment and retention of qualified doctors by advocating for our members and their patients with a single unified voice," said Frank Proscia, M.D., Executive Director of Doctors Council.  "Now, with the addition of Elmhurst to our membership, we have strengthened the voice of all doctors in achieving these objectives both at Elmhurst Hospital and citywide.  Increasing the ability of doctors to advocate for our profession and patients is strengthened when more doctors belong to Doctors Council, backed by our organization and SEIU.  We are stronger together as doctors when we speak with one voice through Doctors Council."

STRONGER TOGETHER . . . . PATIENTS, COMMUNITY AND DOCTORS COUNCIL WORK TO
PROTECT PATIENT CARE IN BROOKLYN

Physician Layoffs Averted at Woodhull Hospital and Cumberland D&TC
as Doctors Ratify New 3-Year Union Contract

In August 2004, patient care in the Brooklyn, New York community was threatened when up to 20 doctors were to be laid off on Friday, August 13th.  The doctors worked at HHC's Woodhull Hospital and the Cumberland D&TC.  Doctors Council SEIU, the union that represents the doctors, reached out to the patients, the community and the elected officials.  Proving that we are "Stronger Together", all the layoffs were avoided.

Contract Action Works:
 "Putting the 'U' in Your Union…Actions + Words = Contracts and Success"

The doctors brought the issue of patient care directly to the patients and community. Standing in front of the hospital, in just over a week, more than 1,500 signatures were collected on petitions sent to hospital administration and politicians demanding that there be more doctors, not less to protect and ensure quality and safe patient care.  "Staffing is the Issue" was a central message, as the number of doctors effects the delivery of patient care, as well as the availability of procedures and services and the amount of time it takes to get an appointment.

In bargaining, over 115 doctors attended a negotiation session where for almost 2 hours, Doctors Council Representatives from each department explained the realities of working in a hospital and the importance of staffing.  Recruitment and retention was also an important issue, as the salary, benefits and job protection of a doctor is important in recruiting new doctors as well as keeping experienced ones.  At a bargaining session in August, patients and members from the community were scheduled to join the doctors in addressing hospital administration.  Prior to this, at the request of administration, a marathon bargaining session led to a successful new contract. 

 A no-layoff clause was achieved protecting doctors' jobs.  Guaranteed pay raises for each of the 3 years were won, including up to an additional 10% in productivity bonuses each year.  Recruitment and retention monies increased departmental minimum salaries, for example in the department of Medicine, by up to 15% immediately.  Other improvements included additional overtime pay, more longevity bonuses rewarding for years of service, and increased CME (Continuing Medical Education) reimbursement.  A Patient Care Committee to address patient care issues was solidified. 

The patients of the hospital and the community won, as with the no-layoff clause staffing of doctors will be protected.  When our union, Doctors Council, and the patients and communities work together, we are stronger together and patient care is protected.

In their first contract as members of Doctors Council SEIU, the doctors of Bergen Regional Medical Center reached a contract with their employer. The contract runs for 20.5 months, from July 1, 2003 to March 15, 2005, and calls for 6% in pay increases, and increases retroactive to July 1, 2003. In addition, there is new contract language that is a “bump up” clause, under which if a new doctor is hired at a salary higher than an incumbent doctor with at least comparable qualifications, then the incumbent shall have his/her salary raised to the higher amount of the new doctor. This should greatly aid recruitment and retention. The doctors also won a new Quality and Safe Patient Care Committee that will have administration and the doctors meeting on patient care issues. The malpractice insurance for the doctors, including “tail” coverage for claims that are made after the doctor terminates employment or the malpractice policy terminates, was clarified and solidified.

Over 200 doctors employed by Columbia University at Harlem Hospital and the Renaissance Community Health Care Network reached a new contract that was ratified by the members of Doctors Council SEIU. This was part of a struggle in which Doctors Council rallied the Harlem community against layoffs and reductions of doctors. Although doctors were originally laid off, all were brought back and Columbia University plans to hire 12-15 additional doctors in the Harlem community. The contract is a 3-year deal to 2006, and calls for retroactive pay raises, increases in board differentials and improvements for intensivists. The deal also brought new benefits to the doctors who will, as of January 1, 2005, be covered under the Doctors Council Benefit Plan for many benefits, including dental and optical. A new Patient Care Committee was created to allow administration and the doctors to discuss quality and safe patient care, including staffing and work load. 

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