Best Practices

The Massachusetts Medical Society's Committee on Senior Volunteer Physicians has developed a creative, collaborative, proactive model for facilitating volunteerism among retired physicians and other physicians no longer engaged in active practice.

Massachusetts law mandates that all physicians who participate in free-care programs must be licensed and have professional malpractice liability insurance. For physicians no longer in practice, the high cost of insurance premiums can be a deterrent to volunteering. To address this barrier, the Massachusetts Medical Society forged an agreement with ProMutual Group, the largest professional liability insurance carrier in the state, whereby the carrier offers limited liability insurance policies to retired physicians who agree to provide care without reimbursement and deliver services to patients at free health care clinics across the state. Through this Health Center program, established in 1997, ProMutual offers a 50 percent premium credit to physicians taking part in the Senior Volunteer Program, and the Medical Society pays the remainder.

Volunteer physicians provide essential, charitable medical care to the uninsured and underinsured in Massachusetts through this Committee on Senior Volunteer Physicians Health Center Program. In 2005, the number of retired volunteer physicians participating in the free-care program rose to an all-time high of 35. Collectively, these physicians provide approximately 440 hours of free health care each month at 18 locations spanning the Bay State to include Boston, Hyannis, Falmouth, Whitinsville, Worcester, Leverett, Hudson, Shrewsbury, Shutesbury, Waltham, and Great Barrington.

For more information about the Health Center Program visit the Massachusetts Medical Society’s website at http://www.massmed.org or contact Erin Tally at (800) 322-2303, ext. 7413, or etally@mms.org.