Absolutely! Docs are "LIPs" (Licensed Independent Providers) which means that, even the ones with hospital salaries are contracted professionals. Most of them are only "associated" with a particular hospital, not employees--- so, you get a bill from the hospital and a separate bill from the Doc. If you've ever tried to change docs while in the hospital, you know how hard that is, because then the hospital has to convince another independent provider to take a disgruntled patient. Only the docs in high risk areas, like L&D, the ER, etc., and sometimes Interns and Residents, are on salaries (high salaries at that!) because the hospital pays their liability insurance costs, which would be very high. BUT, there are different rules for docs than for regular employees--- different parking, different benefits (hospitals feed the docs for free, for example--- in fact, places like Vanderbilt in Nashville have a special 24/7 dining room for docs only, so they don't have to eat hospital food.) Want to cut health are costs? Stop the bennies to the MDs and administration-- like they don't make enough money already! The truism in western medicine today is "we do it all for the patients." The hell they do. They do it for the money, plain and simple.
