By Tran Nguyen. San Jose Spotlight. Bay City News.
The Santa Clara County health care system could face a mass exodus of physicians due to poor working conditions and lack of respect from management.
More than 200 of the 288 physicians employed in the county do not plan to stay with Santa Clara Valley Medical Care - VMC - nearly 69 percent of whom plan to leave the system in the next three years, according to a survey conducted by Valley Physician Group. The group is a union representing more than 450 county-employed physicians.
Among those planning to leave, three out of five physicians cited that county administration did not respect them as the reason. More than 70 percent of physicians said they feel worse about their job compared to last year.
The physicians have been working without a contract for more than a year and the union has been in negotiations with the county for more than two years.
Steve Harris, M.D., president of Valley Physician Group, said the problems are a direct result of county leaders not listening to and addressing physicians' concerns.
The county has already lost 65 primary care physicians in the past five years and has been unable to retain people from its residency program during the same period, he said.
"These numbers ?from the survey? are shocking and should be a wake-up call for the county," Harris told San Jose Spotlight. "This used to be a place where people came to spend their careers, and that's no longer the case."
County officials, including Executive Jeff Smith, have repeatedly said the health care system has no problems, downplaying physicians' concerns as a ploy to win a favorable contract.
"We are in negotiations with the physicians' union at this time and have no comment on the union's attempts to draw attention to the negotiations in the press," Smith said, referring to the survey.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez explained that she could not comment on the ongoing negotiations. The other supervisors did not respond in time for publication.
The survey came after the union sounded the alarm about years of problems at VMC, where doctors said they are being asked to prioritize quantity over quality of care. Doctors said they are reaching a breaking point, with some of the region's most vulnerable patients having to wait months for appointments, crucial tests and diagnoses.
Harris said the issue is not just about wage increases, and that the union is considering a strike if Santa Clara County does not agree to a contract soon.
"It's about working conditions and how they are so closely tied to patient care, but the county has no sense of urgency to address these issues," Harris said.
Physicians employed by the county in various departments said they are on the verge of insanity after years of seeing comments and concerns ignored and downplayed.
Problems at VMC, such as the ongoing shortage of workers, are not unique, but physicians said they are frustrated with the tone-deaf leadership. Health care workers said COVID-19 worsened the years-long problem, resulting in an average wait of eight to 14 hours for emergency services, a backlog of hundreds of patients and months of waiting for basic noninvasive screening tests.
Many health workers, including physicians, are doing the work of two or three people, they noted.
More than 76 percent of physicians surveyed said VMC does not provide adequate care to patients, and 90 percent said the county does not provide enough resources and workers to support them.
A physician with about five years of experience at VMC noted that they are contemplating leaving, along with four other physicians from the same department. They said they have to spend their days off catching up on administrative duties because of the heavy workload. San Jose Spotlight is not naming the physicians for fear of retaliation.
"I thought I had found my forever job - at VMC - but the more I think about it, I feel hopeless," the physician explained. "What's crazy to me is the fact that we are one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, and this is how we choose to treat our patients."
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