PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Dr. Andrew Goldstein, Primary Care Doctor at Bellevue Hospital, on Challenges at NYC Health + Hospitals
2:10:33
ยท
149 sec
Dr. Andrew Goldstein, a primary care doctor at Bellevue Hospital since 2015, expresses his disappointment with recent contract negotiations and concerns about potential mass exodus of doctors from NYC Health + Hospitals due to unfair contracts and increased workload.
- Highlights the impact of increasing panel sizes by 30% and reducing new patient appointment times to 20 minutes
- Mentions a survey indicating that about a third of primary care doctors plan to leave due to new policies, with another third considering leaving
- Urges the city to offer fair, competitive contracts and ensure patients receive adequate care and follow-up
Andrew Goldstein
2:10:33
Hi.
2:10:33
My name is Andrew Goldstein.
2:10:34
I'm a primary care doctor at Bellevue Hospital.
2:10:36
I've been working there since 2015.
2:10:37
I went to medical school at Mount Sinai and rotated through Elmhurst, and then I went to residency at Columbia.
2:10:43
My time at Elmhurst in the health and hospital system motivated me to take offers that were less paying, to refuse offers that were higher paying and take a offer that was less paying at Bellevue right out of residency.
2:10:55
I, after a few years reflecting on my time, I realized I love my patients, I love my coworkers.
2:11:02
I was, you know, for many years saying my bosses all the way up to our CEO.
2:11:07
I was just so happy to be in the health system that I was in, and I wanted to work in it my entire career.
2:11:13
I've been a bit heartbroken over the past 2 years, frankly.
2:11:16
I think there's been so many good, policy changes by our H and H leadership, in the Mitch Katz era, and I think most of my peers feel the same way.
2:11:25
I think the recent round of contract negotiations have been really, really disappointing.
2:11:30
I'm in the public sector unit.
2:11:32
Many people in my unit reluctantly, authorized, our our agreement because we didn't have a right to strike.
2:11:40
But we are very disappointed in it and feel like it is sub inflation, substandard, and many people, unfortunately, in my unit are planning on leaving.
2:11:48
So like doctor Katz said, we see based on whether people take jobs or leave jobs, and I'm scared for, the amount of exodus we're gonna see based on, my sector public sector unit, having people leave.
2:12:02
I'm worried that if the city doesn't offer enough to my colleagues in the affiliates, that there's also gonna be an exodus because of unfair, uncompetitive contracts.
2:12:11
But I'm here mainly today as a primary care doctor to talk about how it's not just 20 minute new patient visits.
2:12:17
It's a massive increase in the size of our panel sizes, the effective size of our panels.
2:12:24
Many people who thought they were full, whose patients struggled to get follow-up appointments and thought that their doctor's panel was full, are now being told they need to absorb another 30% of patients.
2:12:34
These increases are going to drive a mass exodus.
2:12:37
We have a survey that we sent out to all the primary care doctors in our health system, which said that about a third are planning on leaving because of this policy, and about another third are considering leaving.
2:12:47
We need to prevent that mass exodus before it happens.
2:12:50
Now is the moment, and I hope that you'll help the city, cover a fair competitive contracts for our workers and also make sure that patients get the care, time that they need and the adequate follow-up that they deserve.