“Don’t give up Medical Practice, Yet!”

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™ 

Practicing Medicine … is Hard to Do 

Is practicing medicine today, really that tough? Increasingly, the answer is “Yes”, according to our doctor clients and the docs we interviewed for this post.  

And, it’s no wonder that Dr. Regina E. Herzlinger – the Nancy R. McPherson professor of business administration and chair at Harvard Business School and author of the books Creating New Healthcare Ventures and Market Term in Healthcare – says that many medical professionals have become depressed and want to give up their careers, entirely. 

For example, Gigi Hirsch, MD, a former ER physician and instructor at Harvard Medical School grew so disenchanted with clinical medicine, that she ditched her career and started her own business, MD IntelliNet, in Brookline, Mass. The company places doctors in non-traditional jobs by pairing them with venture capitalists and other businesses seeking physicians [personal communication].  

In the same light, Michael Burry, MD, a promising young neurologist from Stanford and Vanderbilt, rejected his medical career to become a private portfolio manager for Scion Capital Management, as did Harvard trained radiologist, Faraz Naqvi, MD, the former fund manager for Dresdner RCM Biotechnology Fund [personal communication]. 

Other notables include Dr. Dimitri Sogoloff, MBA of Alexandra Investment Management, LLC, and Dr. Ken Shuben-Stein, CFA^©, formerly of Promethean Investing, a hedge fund in New York City [personal communication].   

In a final example, Dr. Laura Eackloff, 45 was a podiatrist for 10 years and thoroughly enjoyed treating patients, but she hated spending more time on the phone negotiating with health insurance companies than examining her patients. “Honestly, health care is a business, and I didn’t like the business of medicine,” said Eackloff, who shut down her practice and opened Gotta Knit, a yarn store in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Her friends and family were extremely supportive of her decision to help people with their hands instead of their feet.

Source: Geoff Williams, Entrepreneur.com [11/27/07]

Assessment

But, Herzlinger implores in her book, Market Driven Healthcare, “don’t give up practice, yet.”  

So, will you stay the course – or abandon ship – and what are your alternatives?

Conclusion

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Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

• PRACTICES: www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
• HOSPITALS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466558731
• CLINICS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439879900
• ADVISORS: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org
• FINANCE: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors
• INSURANCE: Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors
• Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance
• Dictionary of Health Information Technology and Security

Filed under: Career Development | Tagged: Philosophical Musings | 1 Comment »

A True “Sea-Change”

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™

Publisher-in-Chief 

Does anyone recall a study several years ago by The MEDSTAT Group and JD Power and Associates, which surveyed nearly 30,000 physicians – participating in 150 healthcare plans and located in 22 different markets – nearly seven of ten physicians considered themselves “anti-managed care” with capitation accounts declining in nearly every HMO category. 

Of course, dis-satisfaction with financial reimbursement was the leading factor back then; but 4 other major factors drive physician’s rating of health plans now, as listed below: 

• Satisfaction with financial reimbursement
• Administration
• Policies impacting on care quality
• Support of clinical practice
• Limits on medical care

Nevertheless, HMOs had not been initially unresponsive to this managed care backlash. 

For example, since 1998, managed care companies and their allies fought against restrictive new proposed regulations and spent more than $112,000 per lawmaker to lobby Congress.

This 60 million dollar outlay was four times the $14 million plus spent by medical organizations, trial lawyers ($1 million), unions ($1.4 million) and consumer groups ($8 million) to press for passage of the failed Patients Bill of Rights.

The $60 million dollar lobbying tab is also 50 percent higher than the $40 million dollars that tobacco interests spent to kill legislature to raise cigarette taxes to curb teenage smoking! 

But, there have been some recent physician victories.  

For example, the Independence Blue Cross (IBC) and the Pennsylvania Orthopedic Society agreed to settle a class action lawsuit about its payment policies, in July 2003, with payouts in 2004. Members of the class were to receive benefits worth an estimated $40 million, but more importantly, IBC was to disclose its standard fee schedules, changes applicable to provider’s specialty, and policies that may have effected reimbursement.  IBC also replaced its independent procedure designation with Current Procedure Terminology’s (CPT’s) separate procedure designation, and was to process claims in accordance with established standards.

Finally, the insurance company will establish a formal resolution process for provider payments appeals.  

Current and newly defunct IBC subsidiaries include QCC Insurance Company, Keystone Health Plan East, Amerihealth HMO, Amerihealth, Amerihealth HMO New Jersey, or Amerihealth New Jersey. 

Can you report a victory to our readers, in your own case?

Is this a sea-change, or merely an isolated event?

Filed under: Career Development | Tagged: Philosophical Musings | 1 Comment »