Hospital administrators and physicians alike should be interested in knowing that the North Carolina Medical Society, at the behest of President Al Osbahr, has recently created a Physician Hospital Issues Committee. This 15-member committee is chaired by William (Skip) Johnstone, Jr., M.D., of Southern Pines. The Committee held its first meeting on February 20, 2009, and will meet twice more before the end of the year. The Society clearly expects the Committee to continue thereafter, as physician-hospital issues are of great interest to the medical community.
As charged by the Board of Directors of the Medical Society, the Committee plans to study hospital medical staff bylaws as well as hospital operations and governance in order to identify issues of concern. The Committee will make recommendations to the Board aimed at strengthening staff bylaws and improving governance and operations. It will also identify areas where physicians may need educational programs and materials to help them work effectively with hospitals and health systems.
To help implement its studies and recommendations over the next year, the Medical Society intends to create a speakers bureau to educate doctors on the following issues.
- Medical staff governance and operations
- Physician-hospital contracts
- Exclusive physician-hospital arrangements
- Joint ventures
- EMTALA
- On-call responsibilities
With experience in both hospital and physician issues, Poyner Spruill has helped the Medical Society lay the groundwork for this Committee. The firm’s involvement includes my participation in a panel discussion of medical staff issues at the Society’s 2008 annual meeting. Moreover, Wilson Hayman and I, partners in the firm’s Health Care Section in the Raleigh office, presented last fall to the Buncombe County Medical Society concerning physician-hospital contracts and employment issues.
In addition to Dr. Johnstone, its chair, the Committee consists of Zane Walsh, M.D., Vice-Chair (Fayetteville); Preecha Bhotiwihok, M.D. (Kinston); William Bowman, M.D. (Greensboro); Hadley Callaway, M.D. (Raleigh); Blaine Hall, P.A. (Pinehurst); Derrick Hickey, M.D. (Wilmington); Shannon Hunter, M.D. (Clyde); Ismo Kaariainen, M.D. (Hickory); Brian Kuszyk, M.D. (Greenville); Gerald Maccioli, M.D. (Raleigh); Michael Miltich, M.D. (Charlotte); Brian Moore, M.D. (Concord); Frank Smeeks, M.D. (Taylorsville); and William Walker, M.D. (Charlotte).
Steve Shaber will serve as attorney-consultant to the Committee. Miriam Schwarz, Executive Director of the Buncombe County Medical Society, will also consult with the Committee. Steve Keene, General Counsel of the North Carolina Medical Society, and Melanie Phelps, Associate General Counsel, are among key members of the Society’s staff who will work with the Committee.