The Dominican Medical Association (CMD) and its 56 specialized medical societies announced on Tuesday, 18 October 2022 the mass disaffiliation of all doctors from ARS Universal as part of their efforts to improve coverage offered by health plan management companies. ARS Universal is affiliated to the Banco Popular.
The president of the CMD, Dr. Senén Caba said all physicians need to comply with the decision or face the consequences by the disciplinary court of the entity. The disaffiliation is to go into effect immediately. Doctors who do not comply with the decision will be submitted to the Disciplinary Tribunal.
It is estimated that ARS Universal has 7% of the national health plan affiliates, about 325 thousand patients.
Dr. Caba said that “several circumstances” led the CMD to to withdraw from the dialogue that the Superintendency of Health and Labor Risks (Sisalril) had convened on Monday, 17 October 2022. Physicians said they abandoned the talks with Sisalril because they understand the entity is biased in favor of big business.
Dr. Caba explained that of the four largest ARSs, Universal is possibly the one that has been the most belligerent in confronting the doctors and the specialized societies.
The Medical Association states that the assignment of codes to physicians is a constitutional competence established in National Health System Law 42-01, which establishes that doctors can attend to any patient, as long as they have an exequatur and are certified by their specialty and by a university as a specialist. “Social Security Law 87-01 itself says that the law is universal, that there should be no discrimination,” he added.
He said the medical plan companies want to assign codes to physicians assuming conditions and competencies that the law does not attribute to these companies. “When does a banker tell a doctor if he can or cannot practice? That is not contemplated in the professional or academic annals of any country,” said Caba.
Regarding indexation, the physician said that according to the last increase, the per capita was increased RD$162.33 pesos, of which 114 pesos were allocated by the ARSs to cover their own inflation indexation.
“And where is the indexation to patients’ medications? Where is the indexation to what the providers spend on their office costs, at a time when power bills have tripled? This model only indexes the fees of the ARSs,” Senén told members of the press.
Dr Caba criticized that the Dominican government has adopted and kept to the format of the failed health and pension plan system in place in Chile and Colombia.
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Diario Libre
19 October 2022