Massachusetts

Advisor to BMC-CIR Minority Physician Recruitment Program Named Pentagon’s Top Doctor

Boston Medical Center’s loss is most definitely the country’s gain. In late April 2010, President Barack Obama chose Dr. Jonathan Woodson to serve as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, colloquially the Pentagon’s “top doctor.” Dr. Woodson was Senior Vascular Surgeon at BMC, and Associate Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean at Boston University School of Medicine, where he oversaw the recruitment and retention of minority students. For more than 20 years, the triple-boarded (internal medicine, general and vascular surgery) African-American physician, who trained at Massachusetts General Hospital, was also a guiding force behind BMC and CIR’s innovative Minority Physician Recruitment Program.

» Read more

CIR Rolls Out NEW Child Care Benefit

We are pleased to announce the availability of Parents in a Pinch: Backup childcare, in your home. The benefit is designed to help you…

• When your child is mildly ill
• When you have to work late or on the weekends
• During school vacations and Monday holidays
• Anytime when you have a gap in your family care arrangements.

» Read more

Contract Negotiations Underway

The Joint Labor Management Committee (JLM) is in full gear, and contract negotiations with the hospital are underway.  At stake are potential economic increases, a committee to examine resident work hours, working conditions at the hospital, and more.

» Read more

Meet The BMC 2010-2011 CIR Leadership Team

Congratulations to our new leadership team! They will assume their official positions at the beginning of the next academic year.

Co-Presidents:
Rebecca Burch (Neuro, PGY 3)
Dylan Stentiford (Med, PGY 2)

Delegates & Alternate Delegates:
Dow-Chung Chi (Med, PGY 2)
Nadia Huancahuari (Emerg, PGY 3)
Frank Contreras (Rad, PGY 4)
Jon Deam (Psych, PGY 2)
Beryl Greywoode (Peds, PGY 1)
Joel Schaffer (PM&R, PGY 2)
Stephen Hammond (Path, PGY 2)

» Full List with Department Reps

New CIR Leadership at Cambridge For 2010-2011!

The following leaders were elected to leadership posts at CHA this March and will represent the housestaff of Cambridge at CIR’s national convention in May:

Kristy Cahill, Co-President, Internal Medicine
Amy Funkenstein, Co-President, Psychiatry
Jay Bhatt, Co-Chair of the Joint Labor Management Committee, Internal Medicine
Matt Davis, Co-Chair of the Joint Labor Management Committee, Psychiatry

» Joint-Labor Managment List

IHI Open School Gives Residents Tools to Improve Quality, Patient Safety

When resident physicians find themselves suddenly thrown into the workforce after medical school, they quickly discover the importance of teamwork and leadership. They may begin to hear buzzwords like “quality improvement” and “patient-centered care.” Employers place a premium on these skills, yet these areas are rarely covered in medical school.

That knowledge gap led the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to create the IHI Open School for Health Professions in 2008.

» Read more

CIR Testifies at MA State House Hearing on Regulating Resident Work Hours

In an effort to make Massachusetts only the second state in the nation to regulate resident work hours, an internationally recognized sleep scientist and five CIR and AMSA members gathered at a State House hearing on November 3, 2009 in favor of Senate Bill 845, the Safe Work Hours for Physicians in Training and Protection of Patients Act.

» Read more

Up close with the U.S. Senate Candidates

On October 3, 2009, Massachusetts CIR members participated in an exclusive U.S. Senate Forum. They joined SEIU members statewide to hear directly from three of the democratic candidates seeking to fill the seat of the late Senator Ted Kennedy.

» Read more

Winners of Parent-Physician Photo Contest Announced

This spring, Massachusetts CIR asked our members "Are you among those physicians balancing work and family life?" and invited doctors to submit photos of themselves with their children for a Parent-Physician Photo Contest. 

» Read more

CIR Leaders Meet With MA Governor Patrick

On March 19, 2009, CIR Regional Vice President Dr. Michael Mazzini and local CIR co-president Dr. Theodore Murray met with Governor Deval Patrick. They were part of a delegation made up of four Massachusetts SEIU locals who were calling on the governor to use federal Medicaid dollars as they were intended: to support safety net hospitals that provide care to Massachusetts residents.

» Read more

Patient Care Funds Support Innovative Projects

Through Patient Care Funds, CIR members have a chance to create and fund programs based on needs they identify in their hospital and their communities. Residents in Los Angeles originated the idea when they negotiated for dedicated funding to cover patients’ needs into their contract starting in 1975. Since then, housestaff around the country have followed suit, using their voice as a union to advocate not just for better compensation and working conditions, but for better care for their patients.

» Read more

CIR Residents Learn About Life After Residency

Residents in Northern California, Southern California, Massachusetts and New York got answers to their most pressing questions about life after residency at a recent series of Post-Residency Life Workshops. More than 150 residents attended the sessions.

» Read more

Boston and Cambridge Residents Stand Up for Safety Net Hospitals

Draconian state Medicaid cuts brought more than 30 CIR members from Boston Medical Center and Cambridge Hospital out on a bitter cold afternoon to protest, many with in white coats straining over their overcoats. The “Put Patients First” rally in front of the Massachusetts State House on January 29th drew more than 800 people -- hospital employees, administrators, elected officials and patients. They gathered to protest clinic closures, staff cuts and the closing of important services at the two hospitals.

» Read more

CIR Member Testifies Before the Drowsy Driving Commission in Massachusetts

On November 6, 2008, Dr. Jessica Eng, a PGY 2 in Internal Medicine and Dr. Nadia Huancahuari, a PGY 2 in Emergency Medicine at Boston Medical Center, gave testimony to the Drowsy Driving Commission at the Massachusetts State House. As reported in The Taunton Daily Gazette, Dr. Eng’s testimony drew from both her medical training and her own personal experience.

» Read more

Cambridge CIR Delivers Contract in Tough Financial Times

Dr. Murray joined the CIR negotiating team as an intern in September 2006 –- but the team had already been negotiating for five months! Serious financial problems, exacerbated by the new Massachusetts healthcare reform law, plagued this crucial safety-net hospital –- and tougher times were on the horizon.

» Read more

MA State Work Hours Bill Clears First Hurdle In The Legislature

Safe Work Hours for Physicians in Training and Protection of Patients (S.1247) jumped its first hurdle in the Massachusetts legislature when it was voted out of the Joint Committee on Public Health in late October 2007.

» Read more

BMC Contract Scores Big On Salary, Parking & Hours

It took fifteen evening negotiating sessions over four months – not to mention three months of preparation. All that hard work paid off on October 31, 2006, however, when CIR negotiating team members at Boston Medical Center saw their new contract overwhelmingly ratified by their colleagues.

» Read more

American Public Health Association Panel Takes On Hours

The American Public Health Association met November 4-8, 2006 in Boston, Mass. One panel discussion on November 6 was sponsored by the Occupational Health and Safety Section, on the topic of “Reevaluating Current Work Hours Limits: What are Safe Hours for Physicians, Nurses…and the Public?”

» Read more