News Brief: Medical students sue over residency system
A group of medical residents have filed a class-action lawsuit in Washington, DC, arguing that the National Resident Matching Program, the nationwide system that controls 80% first-residency positions, violates federal antitrust regulations.
The plaintiffs, who claim to represent a class of 200,000 residents, argue that the defendants — seven medical organizations and more than 1,000 private hospitals — use the program to keep residents’ wages low and hours long. Almost all first-year residents work more than 100 hours per week and make less than $40,000 per year. Their salaries average out to less than $10 per hour.
The National Resident Matching Program uses ranked lists submitted by hospitals and the approximately 15,000 prospective residents. Both sides agree in advance to accept the match, and there is no room for negotiation about wages, hours, or other terms of employment.
Consequently, the suit claims, the hospitals, which share detailed salary information with each other, force residents to accept below-market wages for the length of their residency, typically three to eight years.
Proponents of the system have claimed that the residency program is not a purely commercial enterprise because it is an aspect of the education of physicians and ensures appropriate distribution of medical expertise across the country. Therefore, they contend, the system should not be subject to antitrust regulations.
If the suit is successful, the system would have to be redesigned. In addition, if the fair-market salaries were determined to be $100,000, the potential damages awarded to plaintiffs could exceed $12 billion and, in antitrust damages, the award would be tripled automatically.
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