Tennessee physicians ‘at a breaking point,’ lobby lawmakers

A sea of white coats filled Nashville’s Legislative Plaza on March 3 as hundreds of physicians, medical students and trainees from across Tennessee pressed state lawmakers on health care policy concerns.

Proposed sweeping insurance reform in the state’s “One Big Beautiful Insurance Bill” was a central topic of discussion at Tennessee Medical Association’s annual Doctors Day on the Hill in the Cordell Hull State Office Building.

“So many doctors came to the Hill to advocate for their patients and their practices,” said Julie Griffin, TMA’s vice president of government affairs.

Griffin said lawmakers seemed sympathetic about physicians’ concerns, including not having enough time with their patients.

“I think they understand that physicians are at a breaking point,” with cumbersome administrative tasks and insurance appeals, she said.

The “One Big Beautiful Insurance Bill,” SB2550 / HB2579, aims to change the process of insurance reimbursements. Physicians said it is intended to make reimbursement decisions more fair and transparent.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson and Rep. Dan Howell, R-Cleveland, was scheduled for votes in House and Senate committees on March 3 and 4.

Currently, TMA President Dr. John McCarley said insurance reimbursement reductions seem arbitrary.

“There’s no negotiation or talking,” McCarley said. “They just pay less.”

McCarley said he was heartened by his conversations with lawmakers.

“I’m hearing great things from nearly everyone we’ve talked to,” McCarley said, at the event.

Maro Doce, a fourth-year medical student at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said he supports the insurance bill, but is opposed to bills seeking to extend the scope of practice of non-physicians amid a physician shortage, especially in rural communities.

“They’re very valuable to the practice of medicine,” Doce said, of physicians’ assistants, nurse practitioners and other staff. But, he added, he doesn’t believe non-physicians should practice independently because they don’t have as much training and it could create a two-tier system.

“People with the wealth will go see the physicians,” said Doce.

Beth Warren covers health care and can be reached at bwarren@tennessean.com or on X @BethWarrenCJ.

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