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COUNTY OF SAN MATEO
Inter-Departmental Correspondence
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Human Resources Department
San Mateo Medical Center
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DATE:
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April 16, 2007
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BOARD MEETING DATE:
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May 15, 2007
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SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:
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None
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VOTE REQUIRED:
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Majority
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TO:
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Honorable Board of Supervisors
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FROM:
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Nancy Steiger, Chief Executive Officer, San Mateo Medical Center
Donna Vaillancourt, Human Resources Director
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SUBJECT:
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Expanding the Pool of Pediatricians Available to take On-Call by Establishing an On-Call Rate for Extra Help Pediatricians
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RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt an Amendment to the Master Salary Ordinance approving an On-Call rate for Pediatric Physician Specialists in order to enable the Medical Center to fulfill it’s mission and mandate to have pediatric on-call physician services.
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VISION ALIGNMENT:
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Commitment: Responsive, effective and collaborative government.
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Goal 20: Government decisions are based on careful consideration of future impact, rather than temporary relief or immediate gain.
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BACKGROUND:
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The San Mateo Medical Center (SMMC) maintains a small number of inpatient pediatric beds and provides a 24-hour Emergency Room. California state licensing regulations require hospitals providing pediatric inpatient services to have on-call pediatricians. In addition, SMMC pediatricians evaluate all cases of pediatric child and sexual abuse. These crucial services require the availability of an on-call pediatrician on nights and weekends, but due to the low on-call reimbursement rate, these night and weekend on-call shifts had become increasingly hard to fill.
To address this problem, In February 2007 the Board authorized a revision to the MOU with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) that established new job classes and pay scales for pediatricians taking on-call. That MOU covers permanent physicians only and does not cover extra-help part- time pediatricians, who constitute a significant portion of the pediatricians taking on-call. This current recommendation is to create parity in reimbursement mechanisms and rates for this group, as originally intended, in order to insure an adequate pool of pediatricians to fill all shifts.
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DISCUSSION:
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The existing rates for permanent pediatricians, that we propose to extend to the extra-help pediatricians, as specified in the MOU are as follows:
a) Pediatricians assigned to be in on-call status shall be paid an hourly rate of Sixteen Dollars ($16.00) effective March 11, 2007. This on-call rate shall increase to Twenty Dollars ($20.00) effective July 1, 2007, and to Twenty-Five Dollars ($25.00) effective June 29, 2008.
b) The call schedule for Pediatricians is defined as Weeknight call (15 hours) from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 a.m., Weekend call (24 hours) from 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m., and Holiday call (24 hours) from 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.
c) Pediatricians shall receive a minimum of three (3) hours of call-back pay for if required to report back to work while in an on-call status.
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FISCAL IMPACT:
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As the total annual number of pediatric on-call hours requiring reimbursement have not changed, there is no anticipated fiscal impact of creating this new job classification. This recommendation simply expands the eligible pool of pediatricians taking on-call.
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