Corvallis Clinic vs. The Community's Collective Wallet

I received some interesting news from a Good Samaritan Hospital employee today. It seems the Corvallis Clinic is going to start building a new outpatient surgery center soon. You see, the hospital is a nonprofit organization under the stewardship of people who genuinely believe in doing what is best for patients and the community at large. The Corvallis Clinic, on the other hand, is a for-profit organization hell bent on maximizing the money they make off the backs of sick and injured people. If Clinic doctors perform surgeries in their new handy dandy surgical center, the Clinic can generate more profit, unlike performing surgeries at the hospital. (The hospital is also planning a new outpatient surgical center, so the timing of this decision is suspect.)

According to this hospital employee, a group of Clinic orthopedic surgeons was gathered in the hospital hallway discussing the on-call contracts with the hospital. As is the case with virtually every hospital, local doctors sign contracts with hospitals for the privilege of being able to see patients at the hospital and perform surgeries in-house. Part of that contract is the obligation on the part of the doctor to provide on-call coverage on a schedule. In other words, in addition to the physician's regular schedule, he or she must be available to see hospital patients for a set number of days each month.

The Clinic doctors apparently believe they should be paid extra when they are actually called in to see patients. Under their contract, they receive the same pay whether or not they are actually called in. It is standard practice to be paid for coverage and not for actual calls, but again, these for-profit doctors are apparently whining that they aren't making enough cash.

Now for some hearsay and conjecture. Having personally dealt with the Clinic in the past, with unfavorable outcomes every single time, I genuinely believe that part of the problem is that the hospital never turns away patients. When a patient without insurance or with low-income government insurance comes into the emergency room, followup care is handled through the Medical Officer of the Day -- the general practitioner, internist or family practitioner who is on call for that day. Under the on-call coverage contracts, those patients have a right to followup medical care.

But no. The Clinic, once again, demonstrates a love of money and disdain for the poor. It isn't the first time. The Clinic doesn't accept new patients who are on Medicare or Medicaid. If you don't have insurance? Forget it. The worst part about this policy is that there are some specialties in town where the only choice is to see a Corvallis Clinic doctor -- oncology and sleep studies, for example. I guess if you're a poor patient with cancer, you're just going to have to die.