Carlucci Calls For Reform To Medical Program

State Sen. David Carlucci released a report on Wednesday calling for the Department of Health to implement immediate reforms to the multimillion dollar program New York currently uses to lure new doctors to under-served areas, particularly in upstate and rural New York.

The program, Doctors Across New York, offers assistance repaying school tuition and business expense reimbursements. In Carlucci’s report, it says that in the current funding cycle, 90 percent, or $11,950,000, of state funds currently sit idle in government and healthcare facility coffers, and similar amount of funds were not disbursed in 2010.

Carlucci’s reform plan calls for increasing the maximum amount of time that healthcare facilities can hold programs’ funds while recruiting new doctors. Currently, this funding expires within six months of disbursement, regardless of how close the healthcare facility might have been to successfully signing a qualifying doctor.

The plan also calls for expanding the number of physician specialties for which hospitals can apply for program funds, seeing as how many areas of New York suffer physician shortages in multiple specialty areas. The current program rules only allow hospitals to apply for funding in one specialty group. The plan also intends to provide doctors with a financial commitment upfront so before doctors move to a high-need area, they can rest assured the program funds will be disbursed. Currently, funds are not formally disbursed until an employment contract is executed, hampering physician recruitment.