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SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2013
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AMERICAN PROFILE • INSIDE
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Ray Emery
State bills aim to ease legal stress
NATIONAL DOCTORS’ DAY
Law would add collaborative option for divorce, separation By LAWERENCE SYNETT lsynett@shawmedia.com
Photos by Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Dr. Irfan Hafiz is a doctor of infectious diseases and works for Metro Infectious Disease Consultants. He also is the vice president of Medical Affairs for Centegra Health System.
Diagnosing the changes As doctors adapt to improved technology, fewer go it alone By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com After meeting with a patient at Centegra Hospital – McHenry, Dr. Irfan Hafiz wiped his hands with sanitizer, sat down at a desk, and began dictating notes into a phone. Hafiz then looked at a computer screen to view an electronic image of a CT scan of his next patient. Gone are the days of holding films up to the light – just one of the many changes in the medical field during the 16 years he has been practicing. As hospitals and medical professionals celebrate Doctors’ Day, which was established in 1990 on a national level, physicians have seen many changes over the years in how they do their jobs. Hafiz, who has been practicing since 1997, is a member of Metro Infectious Disease Consultants. He said more physicians are becoming part of medical groups or employed by hospitals. “One is the mindset of [job] security,” said Hafiz, who also is the vice pres-
Hafiz walks out of a patient’s room after doing a checkup. He serves as a consulting physician at five area hospitals.
A trend toward self-employed physicians According to the American Medical Association, of physicians employed in 2008: A recent study by consulting firm Accenture, however, were self-employed showed independent physior owned a private practice cians have been declining by 2 percent a year. Accenture forecasts a 5 were employees of a hospital percent annual decline through or medical group 2013, leading to only one-third of physicians in independent were independent contractors practice.
61.1 percent
33.7 percent 5.2 percent
ident of Medical Affairs for Centegra Health System. “Having someone else take care of the regulatory
LOCALLY SPEAKING
headaches, the paperwork and the administrative stuff ... it’s somebody else’s problem, not mine.”
Dr. Leo Kelly works at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, where is he is a physician of internal medicine but does mostly administrative work. Even though physicians tend to be independent-minded and entrepreneurial, many are no longer running private practices, Kelly said. There are costs to starting and maintaining a practice. The doctor would have to hire a nurse, a receptionist, someone to handle billing and a computer expert. “Running an office becomes expensive,” Kelly said. Couple that with medical school debt, and being employed is becoming more popular. Many medical school graduates are leaving with a large of amount of debt, sometimes as much as $200,000 to $250,000. “It is an issue,” Kelly said. However, there is a shortage of primary care physicians, as salaries
See DOCTORS, page A9
CRYSTAL LAKE
THREE COUNCIL SEATS UP FOR GRABS Three City Council seats, for which there are five candidates, are up for grabs in the April 9 election. Newcomers want to bring a fresh voice to Crystal Lake’s council, while most incumbents running for a seat cite their years of experience as reasons why they make good council members. For more, see page B1.
Tyler Hall H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
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CRYSTAL LAKE: CL South’s Tyler Hall almost pitched a perfect game in the 15-0 win over Harlem. Sports, C1 Vol. 28, Issue 87
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Two proposed measures backed by a McHenry County Republican and a local attorney aim to ease the emotional and financial burden that often accompanies divorce or separation. Illinois Senate Bill 31 and House Bill 1029 would pave the way for the Uniform Collaborative Law Act, which would outline the process of using a model of conflict resolution known as collaborative practice. Collaborative practice aims to resolve legal disputes respectfully, out of court, while working with trained professionals. The method would be more cost-effective to an already cash-strapped state court system and clients unable to afford the cost of ongoing litigation.
Pam Althoff
Sandra Crawford
“This is a way of describing this complex process and keeping folks out of the courtroom,” said attorney Sandra Crawford, of Lake in the Hills. “[Divorce and separation] are times when people aren’t functioning at their highest. When you are talking with clients already in distress, you need to make sure they understand the alternatives to going to court.” State Sen. Pam Althoff, R-McHenry, is a co-sponsor of
See BILLS, page A9
Lawmakers tighten belts amid budget cuts By JIM ABRAMS The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Members of Congress are traveling less and worrying more about meeting office salaries. Their aides are contending with long lines to get inside their offices and fewer prospects of a raise. Such are the indignities thrust upon the men and women who brought the country $85 billion in government spending cuts this month. There probably won’t be much sympathy for a senator or congressman making $174,000 a year who is in no danger of being furloughed or laid off, at least until the next election. Still, there has been an effort, especially in the Republican-led House, to show that no one should be exempt
By the numbers • Government spending was cut $85 billion in March. • Also in March, the House imposed an 8.2 percent reduction in lawmakers’ personal office budgets. • In 2011-2012, members’ office budgets were cut 11 percent. from sacrifice. “As those who are charged with the care of taxpayers’ dollars, we need to lead by example,” Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., who chairs the House Administration Committee, said last week in promoting a bill to slash budgets of House committees by 11 percent.
See CUTS, page A9