Who will save the independent physicians?

The Wall Street Journal is my favorite newspaper, but its Op-Ed page is not the place to turn to for sober, non-partisan analysis. So I was only a little bit surprised to read The Doctor’s Office as Union Shop, which blames the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for ushering in “a potentially radical factor in the transformation of health care –the doctor as union worker.” The author, Dr. David Leffell from Yale Medical School, asserts that the ACA’s reimbursement schemes are forcing doctors to abandon their practices, although he doesn’t get into specifics. But reading between the lines it’s clear that Leffell understands that the shift of physicians from independent practice to hospital employment pre-dates ObamaCare and has other powerful causes. Actually, I am at least as concerned as Leffell about the rapid switch of physicians away from independent practice. I’m cited in InformationWeek’s  2013 crystal ball article as predicting that doctors will continue to abandon independent practices. However, I added a hopeful caveat that I’ll explore further in this post: “On the other hand we will see more independent physician practices adopt technologies that enable them to retain their autonomy, improve their financial performance, and serve patients better,” Williams said. “Staying independent will again feel like a viable option, and we may even see new physicians hanging up their own shingles again.”...
Source: Health Business Blog - Category: Health Managers Authors: Tags: Physicians Source Type: blogs