This week the San Diego Union-Tribune reported on the new UC San Diego policy pushing part-time psychiatrists to give more of their week to the university or leave. Watch the short video below, then look at one number in that article, because UC San Diego’s own explanation of the policy does not add up.
What is happening
UC San Diego Health told its psychiatrists in late April that, starting July 1, they must spend at least 60% of their time on UC San Diego patients, and new hires must reach 80%. Doctors who cannot meet that threshold are left choosing between a major schedule increase and leaving. Dr. Simi Brar, who works in the Women’s Reproductive Mental Health Care program alongside Dr. Alison Reminick, says she has already begun telling patients they must find new providers by August 14. The patients affected are women in high-risk pregnancy, postpartum, pregnancy loss, infertility, and reproductive mental health crisis. By Dr. Brar’s count, about a dozen psychiatrists are affected, at least nine of them mothers.
The “three-hour” claim, and the real math
The Union-Tribune spells out exactly what the policy measures: “Minimum effort refers to the minimum percentage of a 40-hour work week that must be spent seeing UCSD Health patients.”
Then UC San Diego’s spokesperson, Jacqueline Carr, defended the change this way: “Going from .4 to .6 effort is a three-hour differential (per week).”
Use UC San Diego’s own definition and do the math:
- 40% of a 40-hour week is 16 hours.
- 60% of a 40-hour week is 24 hours.
- The difference is 8 hours a week, not 3.
So where does “three hours” come from? Not from UC San Diego’s own definition. The week is 40 hours and the increase is 20 points, and 20% of 40 is 8. There are only two ways to land on “three”: someone needs a remedial math lesson, or they are downplaying the time and counting on the public not to do the math.
Why it matters
Eight hours is not a rounding error. It is a 50% increase in a part-time doctor’s UC San Diego hours (24 hours is one and a half times 16). For a mother who built a part-time schedule around her children and family, that is not “three more hours,” it is close to a different job, on a few weeks’ notice.
Calling it “three hours” does two things at once. It makes the doctors look unreasonable for saying no, and it makes the policy look gentle. The figure is off by more than double, and it came from the institution defending the policy.
It is not the only number in dispute. UC San Diego says only two clinicians fall below the threshold. Dr. Brar says it is about a dozen, at least nine of them mothers. When the public-facing numbers are this far apart, it is fair to ask what else about this decision is being made to look smaller than it is.
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