Mark A. Rosing, MD, chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department at St. Barnabas Hospital in Bronx, N.Y., told The New York Times he tells prospective candidates they may have a hard time leaving the hospital to pursue other opportunities for two reasons: One, because working as an OB-GYN in the Bronx can have an impact on physicians finding a job in other regions after working at an area hospital; and two, because working as an OB-GYN in the Bronx can be one of the most rewarding experiences for physicians.
Dr. Rosing said in his experience, providers can be resistant to practice in the Bronx because working at an area hospital might "literally destroy their careers," he said.
"Making a decision to practice here, taking care of patients that really need quality care — in doing so, they may find that within five or 10 years they have a list of malpractice suits that may make them unemployable elsewhere," Dr. Rosing told The New York Times.
An editor at the Medical Liability Monitor, a newsletter that publishes an annual survey of malpractice premiums for individual physicians, told the publication malpractice insurance premiums are higher in the Bronx than almost anywhere else in the nation. Insurance for individual obstetricians and gynecologists in Bronx County averaged between $176,000 and $196,000 in 2017. OB-GYNs in Chicago, by comparison, averaged about $138,000 per year, while OB-GYN physicians in Los Angeles paid $50,000, according to an analysis by The New York Times.
Contributing to the higher premiums is the fact that New York does not cap the amount of money that may be paid as compensation for malpractice lawsuits.
As a result, hospital administrators are finding it increasingly difficult to convince providers to practice at area hospitals, which have caused institutions to change how they recruit physicians to work at their facilities. At times, some hospitals have been forced to hire physicians of a lower caliber amid recruiting difficulties, according to The New York Times.
"There are some people here who — I won't tell you otherwise — they can't get a job anywhere else," Dr. Rosing said, emphasizing that he was referring to the Bronx in general. "In some cases, we have to take them, because our choices are limited."
While these difficulties highlight why some physicians avoid the Bronx, others still flock to it, according to Dr. Rosing.
"There are still people out there who say, '[Malpractice lawsuits are] the price of doing business, and this is what I trained to be a doctor for.' That's the kind of person you need to seek out in the Bronx," he said.
To read the full The New York Times article, click here.
Editor's note: This article was updated April 30, May 7 and May 16 to reflect changes made to NYT's original coverage.