Orlando, FL, November 1, 1999
The National Association of Physician Recruiters (NAPR) announced today a major education effort for members and healthcare entities, nationwide, regarding discrimination laws and discriminating hiring practices.
The Ethics Committee of the National Association of Physician Recruiters recently received a complaint from a member whose client has been requesting recruitment assistance that would cause the NAPR member firm to violate federal and state discrimination laws. The client, a multi-site healthcare corporation, has been advertising through both print media and voice mail that the physician-applicant must be “American Born, American Trained” and “Non-Minority”.
NAPR was formed in 1984, in large part, to address ethical issues within the field of Physician Recruitment. In this particular case, the Ethics Committee has taken a strong stand against such hiring practices, by sending a letter to the entity and advising them of the risk they put themselves in along with the NAPR’s position on such matters.
These types of hiring practices clearly discriminate against a ‘non-American’ physician (who received US training as well) and, in the view of NAPR, must be stopped at the risk of losing the client’s business. Unfair hiring practices give the physician recruitment industry a bad name and NAPR’s goal is to act together, with member firms and clients, to stop it.
A Board Member who helped handle this case said, “We often have speakers at our semi-annual meetings, to educate our members about the latest legislation regarding these very issues. In fact, one of the best discrimination lawyers in the country, Melanie Gurley Keeney, of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, LLP, spoke at our last convention (10/2/1999), in St. Louis, and I’m sure we’ll have her speak again.”
In general, the Ethics Committee of the NAPR has handled over 100 cases in the last eight years with wide-ranging topics such as unfair competition charges to improper presentation of a physician’s Curriculum Vitae. The organization investigates complaints and steps in when appropriate, to take action in disciplining its members. The goal is to protect the reputation of the physician recruitment industry. This time, the Ethics committee and its members hope to help the client abide by the law in addition to helping them recruit a physician.