Becker’s Hospital Review reports that in a letter to Andy Slavitt, CMS acting administrator, AAFP’s board chairman, Reid Blackwelder, M.D., argued that hospital-employed physicians have the right to “due process” before being fired from hospitals’ medical staff.
“We believe physicians deserve fair hearings when threatened by termination from a hospital and that fear of retribution may limit or prevent physicians from fully advocating for their patients’ best interests,” Dr. Blackwelder wrote. He added that “physicians with due process rights are more likely to protest fraudulent practices that threaten the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
Becker’s reported that the AAFP is asking CMS to revise the “conditions of participation” form that Medicare-participating hospitals sign, saying that AAFP believes that hospitals and physician-staffing companies should be prohibited “from including language that facilitates physician dismissal without a fair hearing in physician employment contracts.”
