Practice Management Alert

Question: One of my practice’s physicians is celebrating his 67th birthday this year. He’s still working full-time with a full caseload of patients. I know 67 is fairly young, all things considered, but I am wondering about any potential safety risks of an older person seeing patients or conducting procedures. Are there any considerations we should implement in practice policy?

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Answer: While your practice will want to safeguard itself against any potential liability, make sure that any policies or protocols that you implement uphold the rights of the physician — or whichever employee — as well. While many industries and careers have mandatory retirement ages, no such requirement exists for healthcare practitioners at this time.

One way to go about this is to institute a policy, but there are many considerations you should include, including the beginning of the age range in which an employee would be subjected to screening, the frequency of conducting any such assessments, the detailed specifics of what is involved in any screenings and who will perform them; and, finally, the consequences involved in refusing such a screening, says Yvonne N. Maddalena, of counsel at Jackson Lewis P.C. in Birmingham, Alabama, on a Jackson Lewis blog.

There are numerous screenings you can include, including substance abuse, peer reviews, physical exams, and cognitive testing, but you should carefully analyze the benefits and risks of choosing each type of screening, Maddalena says. It’s important to focus on maintaining an “individualized determination of the skills and health of each particular physician,” she says, noting that doing so will help ensure that your practice isn’t committing discrimination or otherwise violating the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act or any state or local laws surrounding discrimination based on age.