Volunteer doctors help fill gap in care
Green, former president of the Harvard Medical School Alumni Association, came up with the idea after realizing that many of this country’s retired and semiretired physicians — about 250,000 in total — want to stay active without the hassle of running their own practices.
“You don’t necessarily want to go to Guatemala or Africa to volunteer if you’re over 60,” said Green, who serves as Maven’s president and CEO. “Meanwhile, there’s a massive need here in America.”
Growing needs
The medical needs of an aging Baby Boom generation, population growth in general and the federal Affordable Care Act that expanded health coverage to more Americans have combined to increase demand for health services while, at the same time, the number of doctors is dwindling mostly because of retirement. Nurses and other health professionals can help but not replace the expertise of physicians.
The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts doctor shortfalls of up to 31,100 primary care doctors and 63,700 specialists by 2025. Meanwhile, 31 percent of practicing U.S physicians are age 60 or older, according to a study published this year in the Journal of Medical Regulation.
The Maven Project is not the first effort to tap into the underutilized potential of retired physicians. Individual health centers and organizations such as Volunteers in Medicine, a South Carolina nonprofit that has opened more than 100 free clinics in 29 states during the past 18 years, draw on both active and retired health professionals to staff local centers.
Amy Hamlin, Volunteers in Medicine’s executive director, said a national network based on the use of telemedicine could fulfill many unmet health needs. “Leave it to California to come up with the idea — the technology megacenter of the world,” Hamlin said.
Physician recruitment for the Maven Project is well under way and the group plans to start a pilot project at three clinics next month, two in Massachusetts and one in Yuba City (Sutter County). The Massachusetts clinics have re- ceived a donated telemedicine software program and Yuba City’s Ampla Health will use its existing system.
“We have the clinics. We have volunteers now. We need to make sure everything with the volunteers goes smoothly … and we’re working out logistics on the technology side,” said Lisa Carron Shmerling, Maven Project executive director.
Hundreds of potential volunteers from Harvard, Stanford, Tufts, UCSF and other medical schools and training programs have expressed interest in Maven’s program.
Plenty of interest
Dr. Ken Bermudez, president of the alumni association at UCSF and a practicing reconstructive and cosmetic plastic surgeon in San Francisco, said he’s had no trouble generating interest among his colleagues. “I haven’t heard a negative response,” he said.
The project helps provide affordable medical malpractice insurance and works with doctors to ensure they meet the proper licens- ing requirements in their states, Shmerling said. Some states even offer a special license for retired physicians.
Active physicians, not just those who have retired, can volunteer their time and expertise to help colleagues in areas that lack specialists.
At 45, Dr. Rick Loftus, a UCSF Medical School alumnus, wants to offer his experience as an HIV specialist even if he doesn’t have many hours to give.
Loftus, director of the internal medicine residency program at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Springs, also works at a free clinic in the Coachella Valley. “It's not just a job for us,” he said. “We take an oath and recognize we have a role in society.”
For Herzberg, who practiced for 33 years in Sonoma County, the project offers him the opportunity to combine his growing interest in telemedicine with his love of working in the safety-net clinics.
“As a volunteer, you have a lot of freedom and the motivation is internal, not external,” he said. “I am anxious to do some work and I’m anxious to do this kind of work.”