Should Physicians Unionize?
Physicians employed by hospitals or health systems now outnumber the physicians employed by or operating physician-owned practices.
For those in hospitals or health systems, a physician union presents one mechanism to alter the power dynamic between physicians and healthcare administrators, ultimately providing a counterforce to hospital corporatization.
The first physician union was initiated in 1934 to advocate on behalf of trainee stipends. Over the decades that followed, employed physicians advocated for better wages, working conditions, and malpractice premium adjustments with limited success.
Physicians’ attitudes toward unionization have followed a cyclical nature and seem to be associated with everchanging political, regulatory, and socioeconomic climates. Favorability rates of unions among physicians have changed over time, from 61 percent in 1972, 33 percent in 1987, 43 percent in 2001, and 78 percent in 2018.
{Cohort Oregon} 2024-CT-OR-105