That number includes 1,000 medical residents. If those aren't counted, he said, there would be a net loss of 200 doctors out of 35,500 since 2002.
''How can the medical society, if you can't agree on the numbers, continue to tout that doctors are leaving?'' said Rep. Thomas Tangretti, D-Westmoreland, his voice rising in apparent anger. ''You've run ads saying will the last doctor please turn off the X-ray machine.
''You've been frightening people, particularly senior citizens, and now we find it was all probably wrong-headed and disingenuous,'' Tangretti said, getting louder. ''Before you continue to frighten people about access to health care, you better get your numbers right. It's an outrage.''
Other lawmakers voiced irritation at his testimony, delivered four days after The Morning Call published new and previously undisclosed figures — some of them from the medical society itself — that make clear doctors are not leaving in large numbers.
For three years, the doctors lobby has insisted that doctors, particularly specialists who perform high-risk procedures, are leaving the state in droves, putting patient care in jeopardy.
Among other tactics, the medical society has promoted a list of 1,700 ''disappearing doctors'' as proof there are fewer physicians in Pennsylvania.
The Morning Call revealed Sunday that new state Insurance Department numbers show doctors have not left the state in waves. There were 35,474 doctors in 2002, as determined by the number who paid their state-mandated supplemental insurance. Now the figure is at least 34,997.
The newest number includes doctors who have applied to the Insurance Department for a piece of $230 million in state tax dollars recently appropriated to offset their rising malpractice premiums, along with a separate list of doctors who had primary insurance coverage at the end of last year but who haven't yet applied for state money.
That total doesn't include doctors who might have moved to Pennsylvania in the last year, might not be in Insurance Department records yet, and who might not know the state has money set aside for them.
In one of several criticisms of The Morning Call's work, the medical society has contended it might be misleading to compare 2002 figures to a list of individual doctors who recently applied for state money and others known to have malpractice insurance at the end of last year. But society officials have not publicly explained why that could be the case.
The new Insurance Department figures show no appreciable reduction in the number of high-risk specialists, a maximum reduction of 56 out of 4,700 since 2002. The medical society has admitted it has separate statistics that show a reduction of only 16 specialists — defined as neurosurgeons, general surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and ob-gyns — during that time frame.
''This a matter of credibility,'' Rep. Nick Micozzie, R-Delaware, chairman of the House Insurance Committee, said after the hearing. ''We've been hearing for three years now that doctors are leaving in large numbers and there is a shortage.
''I go into my doctor's office and there's a sign that says ''Call Nick Micozzie to Save Our Doctors,'' he said. ''Well, saving our doctors is a different issue than claiming doctors are leaving in large numbers.''
In reference to the three-year campaign, Glunk told the committee that anecdotal evidence indicates there aren't enough of some kind of specialists in some parts of the state, and that not enough young doctors are choosing to move to Pennsylvania.
For three years, the medical society and its associated group, Politically Active Physicians Association, have waged an intensive public relations and lobbying campaign to convince legislators and their constituents that doctors are fleeing the state en masse.
The effort was triggered by medical malpractice premiums that started soaring in 2001 and continue to climb. Rather than pay prices that doubled seemingly overnight, some doctors did indeed depart, others altered their practices to avoid high-risk procedures.
As a result, lawmakers have enacted a series of court reforms sought by doctors as a way to drive down the rising premiums. A new cigarette tax raises roughly $230 million a year to help doctors afford malpractice premiums. Applications for that money are being processed now.
Doctors continue to demand a cap on jury awards on pain and suffering damages in malpractice lawsuits and have threatened to leave the state if they don't get them.
On Thursday, Glunk told the panel of lawmakers that the disappearing doctors list is not actually a list of doctors who disappeared. It is more of a list of doctors who might have been impacted by rising malpractice rates and who might have retired, moved, or curtailed their practices as a result, he explained.
The list makes no mention of doctors who have relocated to Pennsylvania since 2002, lawmakers noted.
''Naturally people leave their profession. You don't count doctors coming in,'' said Rep. Tony DeLuca, D-Pittsburgh told Glunk. ''If you don't have accurate statistics on the number of doctors, how can we tell? How can we make policy like that?''
Lawmakers from both parties say the list — created and maintained by Donna Rovito, the wife of an Allentown physician — has been used extensively as a lobbying tool to support doctor claims.
Democratic House leaders Thursday called for a moratorium on any more medical malpractice reforms until lawmakers ascertain whether doctors are leaving the state in large numbers, and whether the medical society deliberately misled lawmakers.
''The data they repeatedly cite, and which served as the basis for legislative action in the last two years, appears to be seriously inaccurate and part of a deceptive campaign,'' said Rep. Mike Veon, D-Beaver, the House Minority Whip. ''We want the real numbers and there should be no further action until the deficiencies of the data are corrected and we know the truth.''
john.bull@mcall.com
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