FPD - Private Sector

In today’s health care environment, market and regulatory developments are encouraging physicians to collaborate in new ways. For instance, the federal government AND the health insurance industry are encouraging physicians, through financial incentives, to invest in health information technology (HIT) to facilitate the collection and sharing of clinical data. All the while, new quality improvement initiatives and reimbursement mechanisms, such as “pay-for-performance,” place a premium on physicians’ ability to collect and share data and use HIT. This certainly warrants a revision of current physician antitrust policy.

As such, the Federation of Physicians and Dentists has, over the past 12 years, been an active and outspoken leader in the fight to achieve collective bargaining rights for private practicing physicians. Over the past decade the FPD has been in a dialogue with the DOJ to discuss the need to update the Statements of Enforcement Policy in Health Care (the “Guidelines”) that were developed by the DOJ and the FTC back in the 1990s. There must be more flexibility.

Health care reform is a high priority on the Obama Administration’s agenda and any health care reform must include the removal of obstacles that prevent physicians from forming networks and joining unions that can jointly negotiate with health plans. Joint contracting will encourage commitments from the number of physicians it will take to carry out two of the key components of health care reform under the Obama Administration, full adoption of HIT and full adoption of the “medical home” model of health care delivery. As affiliates of the National Union of Hospital & Healthcare Employees (NUHHCE) and the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME)/AFL-CIO, we can have a direct hand in achieving meaningful health care reform. Of course it will take time and commitment, not only on our part but on our members’ part as well.

While we work together to move the practice of medicine forward, we can also work to alleviate some of the administrative burdens that you and your practice face in today’s complex health care environment. As a resource to our members we have put together a collection of information and tools that address private practice issues and provide solutions to managing your practice. Please visit our Resource Center often, and if you have any suggestions for information to be added, please contact our Resource Manager, Lynda Odenkirk, at lyndafpd@aol.com.

Without a union, private-sector healthcare providers remain at the mercy of for-profit, corporate medicine. If we let others decide the fates of our jobs, our voices don’t get heard. Therefore, we must remain joined together for a real and powerful voice in ALL decisions affecting all our careers.

JOIN or RE-JOIN today!

We believe that medical decisions should be made by physicians - NOT by for-profit administrators! Too often these corporate administrators, who freely admit that they know nothing about medicine and that they are not in the health care business, compromise health care.

Physicians need an advocate, but antiquated antitrust policy keeps physicians who want to organize or form legitimate physician networks from being able to escape the suspicious eye cast down upon them by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The Federation of Physicians & Dentists / Alliance of Healthcare & Professional Employees (FPD/AHPE) is a non-profit organization representing public and private-sector physicians, along with a variety of other types of healthcare employees and professionals, dedicated to improving the working conditions of its members.

FPD/AHPE provides experienced assistance to physicians in negotiating contracts and acts as an expert bargaining agent for members in recognized collective bargaining units.

FPD/AHPE recognizes the critical relationships between public and private-sector healthcare providers, their payers and the patient community: each has a profound effect and influence on the other and on the standards of quality and care within healthcare professions. Achieving professional standards of quality in and of itself is a fundamental tenet of FPD/AHPE’s mission and goal.

Since 1989, when FPD/AHPE was elected the representative for all state-employed physicians in the State of Florida, FPD/AHPE has grown remarkably as an agent for public and private-sector groups. It has also gained increased membership among physicians wanting expert assistance negotiating agreements with insurers and managed care organizations. FPD/AHPE continues its fight to overturn federal antitrust exemptions for the insurance industry, while lobbying for collective bargaining rights not only for its own private-sector physicians, but for healthcare providers industry-wide.

FPD/AHPE is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital & Healthcare Employees (NUHHCE) and with the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME)/AFL-CIO. As such, FPD/AHPE is part of the largest union organization in the world, an organization which has been working for over fifty years to better the lives of its members and to achieve the dignity which, as professionals, they deserve.

Exercise your rights and organize with FPD, an affiliate of the largest AFL-CIO union with 1.4 million members strong. JOIN or RE-JOIN today!

Membership Structure

The Federation of Physicians & Dentists is organized into two sectors - the Public Sector physicians (state-employed and private-employed physicians in the State of Florida) and the Private Sector (private practice physician nationwide).

The one big difference between these two Divisions is that as employed physicians, the Public Sector has the inherent right to collective bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act, while the Private Sector physicians are considered independent contractors, and as such, although they have the right to organize, they do not YET have the right to collective bargaining. Obtaining this right for private practice physicians has been one of our biggest fights and we will continue this effort for as long as it takes.

Private Practice Physicians

If you are a private practice physician, please visit our Private Sector web pages by clicking here or on the link above -left.

Employed Physicians

If you are a state or private-employed physician, please visit our Public Sector web pages by clicking here or on your link above left.