Following the Trends of Primary Care Private Practice
March 26, 2010 at 1:05 pm 2 comments
What does it tell you when people are abandoning what you are trying to achieve? Do you re-adjust your goals or do you ignore trends and follow the path you feel is best.
My current goal is to become a country doctor. I’d like to run or at least be a part of a small private practice in a small community. It is hard for me at this point to articulate what draws me to that goal. It just feels like the right thing for me to do.
This article from the NYT would like me to take pause and reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of private practice and face some of the realities forced on primary care physicians these days.
Apparently more young doctors are joining hospitals rather than venturing forth in the private practice. This is even leading to many private practices to being sold to larger entities because existing practices are having a hard time attracting physicians.
This retreat from long hours and Medicaid reimbursement paper cuts into the hospital citadel of stable pay is potentially creating a further rift between the face of medicine (the doctors) and their patients. Does this make a difference though? Medical care will still be provided to patients at all hours, but perhaps at the cost of a longer drive? The patient won’t know the face that the will see that day necessarily, but is that a bad thing? Perhaps. Trust is extremely important and often people don’t fully trust that a large entity has their best interest in mind. That goes both ways, though. You can trust that more doctors in a community, more minds are better than one. A hospital will have members of different specialties available.
For right now, a private practice is still what appeals to me. I’m enticed by the intimacy with the people in the area and the status that comes with caring for a community. Is it easier as a private practitioner or in a hospital setting to drive community health projects? It depends I guess.
Another point is that doctors in a hospital can worry less about paper work and paying the bills and managing employees and can put a greater focus in to medicine and the people they are treating.
Perhaps that is a fair trade-off?
Perhaps this trend will allow me to better fit in the niche that I’ve envisioned for myself?
Entry filed under: news, practice thoughts. Tags: community, doctor-patient relationships, follow the money, health, healthcare, NYT, practice thoughts, public health, thoughts, trends.
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Brian | April 1, 2010 at 2:13 pm
The word “niche” says it all. It’s an environment that best suits one’s means of survival. The flock to hospital and/or corporate practice is probably occurring because young physicians are best suited for survival in fast-paced, methodical environments. Blame their upbringing and training (or credit it, depending on your stance), which favors competition and wealth.
A lack of rural practitioners should excite, not deter, your career goal, Mike. It means less precedence, less expectation, and more freedom. Heed the flock only as a warning sign that you shouldn’t exactly copy existing “country docs.” The flock is merely a cue for someone with non-flock skills to step-in and redefine the use of the niche.
2.
Brian | April 1, 2010 at 2:26 pm
The word “favors” in the last line of the first paragraph should be “favor.” Sorry to be obsessive, but I don’t like to ignore errors.