Volunteer Physicians
Project Access, the San Diego County Medical Society Foundation’s (SDCMSF) initiative to serve the medical needs of the truly indigent uninsured — patients who don’t qualify for Medi-Cal, CMS, or any public program — is recruiting primary care physicians and specialty physicians willing to volunteer medical and surgical services to just one patient a year … or more. With that in mind, we at SDCMSF are working hard to make it easy for you to volunteer your services by removing all the obstacles in the way.
Professional obstacles include liability exposure. Volunteer medical evaluation and treatment rendered in your office is covered under your own professional liability insurance policy; however, if you wish to volunteer outside your office, e.g., at UCSD’s student-run free clinics, at the VIM clinic, at church-based clinics, etc., separate credentialing by the host clinic where you perform these volunteer services may be necessary.
While studies have shown that the recipients of volunteer medical/surgical services are far less likely to sue the physician than are paying patients, we all want professional liability coverage wherever we practice the healing arts. The San Diego County Medical Society (SDCMS) is exploring legislation, similar to that available to physicians in Georgia, Florida, and many other states, that would provide volunteer physicians with state-sponsored and portable professional liability coverage wherever they volunteer.
Money
Let’s face it, you will be volunteering to see the Project Access patient for free. Although Medi-Cal and CMS do not cover the cost of delivering medical/surgical services for these patients, even if you submit a bill, you’d be paid only a little. The Project Access volunteer physician is paid nothing at all.
Remember when you first wanted to become a doctor? Why was that? Was it scientific curiosity about the human condition? Was it service to humanity? In our current healthcare world where every day is a pitched battle for prior authorizations for everything from imaging studies and durable medical equipment to medications, procedures, and hospitalizations, Project Access offers you an opportunity to provide healthcare in a less hassled environment.
We will try hard to make pharmaceuticals available for your Project Access patient at no cost through a robust patient assistance medication acquisition program. Project Access will be soliciting low-cost or free lab and imaging services for the qualified patient. We will help Project Access volunteer physicians obtain hospital services with the assistance of case managers who will be familiar with the charitable care policies of San Diego-area hospitals.
Time
Time is the resource we never get back. Our lives are busy. We don’t want to waste time waiting for the patient who doesn’t show up for an appointment that could have been given to the patient who does. Project Access case managers and nonphysician volunteers will furnish information on public transportation options or may even transport the patient to your office, to the lab, to the imaging center, to other ancillary services, or even to the hospital for diagnostic studies in non-urgent cases.
Satisfaction
When was the last time you felt really good about what you do, about a great diagnosis, about a patient who felt truly helped and grateful? Here’s one more chance! Project Access wants your volunteer participation to be as easy as possible. If you volunteer to see one Project Access patient this year, maybe next year you will volunteer to see two or three.
To learn more and to volunteer your medical services to a Project Access client, please contact Aron Fleck, SDCMSF executive director, at (858) 300-2780 or at AFleck@SDCMS.org. For additional details, contact James Hay, MD, Project Access physician champion, at jthay@ncfmg.com, or Carol Young, MD, SDCMSF board of directors president, at cyoung@pol.net. We at Project Access will work hard to remove the obstacles so that you can enjoy improving access to care in San Diego County for those who might otherwise go without it.