Student Loan Delinquents Get Online Notice

Is your doctor, dentist, pharmacist or chiropractor a deadbeat? The government wants you to know.

Earlier this week the federal Department of Health and Human Services announced it was posting on the Internet a list of medical professionals who have “repeatedly ignored collection efforts” on their student loans.

But even if you are able to get to the list--not an easy task for the home computer user--there is only a slim chance you’ll find the name of one of your own doctors or other health providers.

The first problem is access. The HHS site that contains the national list of 1,402 names--304 in California, more than any other state--has been so popular that getting to it on the World Wide Web has been practically impossible.

“We have been overwhelmed,” said an HHS official in Washington, acknowledging the site has been overloaded. “People really wanted to get to that list.”

On the department’s Web site (www.defaulteddocs.dhhs.gov), the list includes 74 people with addresses in Los Angeles County but contains much out-of-date information. A survey of licensing agencies and telephone records revealed many of those listed in Los Angeles County have either left the area or are not licensed to practice in California. Of those on the list who still live or work here, the overwhelming majority are chiropractors.

“My practice just doesn’t generate the kind of income I thought it would,” said Brian Parker, who graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Los Angeles in 1988 and now practices in Canoga Park.

He is on the list as owing $28,948.

“Actually, it’s more than that,” he said with a sigh.

Parker said that while he was in school, the business changed. He said managed care became more prevalent and the government cut back on reimbursements.

“I had friends who went into [chiropractic practice] and now they live in Bell Canyon,” he said. “I don’t make anywhere near that kind of money.”

Parker said being on the list is an embarrassment.

“Of course, I don’t want to be on a list that says I’m in bad debt. But at this point in time, there is nothing I can do about it.”

William Hempsy, a chiropractor since 1984, said he couldn’t pay his student debt--listed as $24,144--because he already has troubles with the Internal Revenue Service.

“Now there are two federal bureaucracies tying my hands,” said Hempsy, who practices in Sherman Oaks.

“Any money I make is supposed to go to the IRS.”

The amount owed by listed physicians is generally larger. William Marshall, a general practitioner on staff at St. Joseph Occupational Health Services clinic in Glendale, is listed as owing $177,546.

“It’s a lot of money,” he said. “Medical school is very expensive. Then there is all the interest that mounts up. I ended up being in a lot more trouble than I anticipated.”

Marshall said he tried to make arrangements for extended payments with the federal government--which backed the tuition loaned to him through its Health Education Assistance Loans program--but he concedes he might have stalled too long at the beginning.

“I was not as diligent as I could have been,” he said.

He said he also looked into discharging the debt through bankruptcy restructuring, but was told he could not do that on this type of student loan.

“The fact of the matter is, I am a damned fine physician,” he said. “If I can figure out how to pay this off, I will.”

In the meantime, Marshall said that with his credit rating he is one doctor who can’t be accused of living grandly.

“I paid cash for my car,” he said. “A house? I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

Making the list is not just a source of embarrassment, it also carries a financial penalty. At the same time HHS posted the names, the department announced that medical professionals on the list would no longer be eligible to receive Medicare or Medicaid payments.

“Thank God for that,” said Marshall, defiantly.

“I was sick of working for $31 a patient.”