MSDC Asks Council to Support Physicians in Underserved Areas May 14, 2020
Written by MSDC Staff
Today, MSDC sent a letter to the Council of DC outlining the actions it can take to ensure that all Wards have a local physician network to keep District residents healthy.
The COVID-19 public health emergency has made abundantly clear that health inequalities exist. The percentage of COVID-19 cases in the District are rising fastest in Ward 8, and 78% of COVID-19 deaths have been African-American residents. MSDC has asked the Mayor's office in recent weeks to include messaging on lifestyle choices to prevent COVID-19 mortality.
Today's letter goes in-depth to address many of the systematic issues that prevent physicians from opening offices in underserved areas. We note that the issue is not that physician do not want to practice in underserved areas like Wards 7 and 8, but rather there are structural issues that make opening a successful practice tough.
Recommendations from MSDC include:
- Providing support for physicians to buy office space in underserved areas or received reduce rent to help with overhead.
- Continue to support DC Health Care Finance efforts to help offices join the Health Information Exchange and boost reimbursement for specialists.
- Encourage affiliation agreements in new hospital contracts that allow physicians to operate independent offices but provide services to new hospitals.