Last update - 00:00 07/10/2007
Clalit to quadruple 'star' doctors' pay for giving up private practices
By Ronny Linder-Ganz
Clalit Health Services is in advanced negotiations with the Finance Ministry over approval of its "Star Program" for its hospitals. A small number of Clalit's outstanding doctors will receive a salary four times as high as their present wages, and in return will make a commitment not to treat patients privately.
Instead they will dedicate all their time to their respective hospitals for a salary of about NIS 80-100,000 a month.
According to the plan, which TheMarker is revealing here for the first time, there will be one "star" doctor per 200 hospital inpatient beds. This translates into five such positions in large hospitals such as Beilinson or Soroka; three in mid-sized hospitals such as Meir, Kaplan and Haemek; and two for small ones such as Yoseftal.
Altogether there will be no more than 25 such doctors chosen for the program.
The program will apply only to doctors in the Clalit HMO's own hospitals, and not to those doctors who provide various services outside of the hospitals. It also will be only for doctors who are actively providing medical services, and not managers or doctors who serve in other positions at the HMO.
The purpose of the new plan is to strengthen Clalit's hospitals with outstanding doctors, mostly surgeons, who will significantly increase the number of operations and other medical procedures done in Clalit hospitals under the rubric of public-funded medicine.
Participating doctors will have to commit themselves to the program and Clalit for four years of full-time hospital work and will not be allowed to have a private practice. The idea is to keep the doctors in Clalit's hospitals for more hours every day, and not have them rush out at the end of their minimum quota to work privately.
In addition, the plan is intended to keep doctors from leaving the periphery for the center of the country by providing them with an incentive to stay at their present hospitals.
The doctors will also be required to work longer hours at the hospitals, at least 25 percent more than what is now considered a full-time position of 40 hours a week. This will give Clalit patients a higher level of medical treatment, as well as shorter waiting times for operations or other treatments.
Today, the average salaries of a unit or department head at one of the hospitals is in the neighborhood of NIS 20,000-24,000 a month. By way of comparison, the salary of Clalit's CEO is about NIS 60,000 a month - a figure recently limited by the treasury.
The Finance Ministry confirmed that negotiations are under way on the matter but added "there is no final agreement yet." The treasury's wages director, Eli Cohen, held several meetings with HMO representatives before the negotiations commenced.
However, not all "star" doctors may be satisfied with the deal or the higher salaries, which may be significantly lower than what they can earn in private practice.
"It is hard to imagine that the most important [doctors] will join the deal," said one senior Clalit official.
The treasury's main fear apparently is setting a precedent for doctors now in a process of mediation with the treasury over a large salary increase after not receiving salary increases for years.