SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Sandré R. Swanson’s (D-Oakland) bill to address the growing crisis in supplying physicians to rural and inner-city hospitals and clinics cleared the Senate Business & Professions Committee today on a vote of 5-2.  The bill now moves forward to the Senate Health Committee. 

Assemblymember Swanson stated today in committee, “This bill addresses the simple but powerful issue of access to health care.”  “For decades, we have endured an acute shortage of doctors at hospitals in our inner-cities and in our outermost rural areas.  In some instances, this has led to dangerously little access to healthcare for those communities.  AB1944 addresses this problem by giving hospitals and clinics located in medically underserved communities the ability to hire physicians,” Assemblymember Swanson continued.    

AB1944 bill removes a serious barrier for medically underserved communities seeking to obtain access to quality healthcare. The bill will authorize all California Health Care Districts to directly hire and employ physicians.  It passed the Assembly with wide bipartisan support last month on a vote of 65-8.

Assemblymember Swanson added, “The bill will protect patients’ and physicians’ rights by prohibiting districts from interfering in medical decisions.”

Current law, known as the Medical Practice Act, restricts the employment of licensed physicians, surgeons, and podiatrists  by corporations and other artificial entities, although there are several exemptions to this prohibition in law and practice.  Public entities, such as State and County health agencies, currently employ thousands of physicians statewide.  Health Care Districts, on the other hand, are the only public healthcare providers in California prohibited from direct physician employment.  AB 1944 seeks an exemption for Health Care Districts.

The need for the bill was clearly illustrated in testimony by Dr. John Rochat, an Oncologist working at the Mendocino Coast District Hospital.  “From Mendocino to San Francisco is a beautiful 3 hour drive, which becomes a torturous trek if you are a chemotherapy patient who must travel that distance to see a doctor.  My presence in the community allows my patients to get the care they need within their community.  Without doctors like me, many will have to travel incredible distances to get vital care.  That is why this bill is so important.”  

“The communities served by California Health Care Districts have suffered from a chronic shortage of physicians for decades, and this problem will become only worse with the anticipated retirement of baby boomer physicians in those areas.  This bill is a pragmatic solution,” concluded Assemblymember Swanson.