The solo practice doctor is on the verge of extinction, many industry experts have long predicted. Yet other sources say independent practices are making a comeback. “For every solo practice that chooses to close its doors, there are many more that continue to stand their ground, pretty much as they have for the last 50 years,” reported The Independent Pediatrician.Read More
New doctors are more likely to work for employers rather than for themselves. As we previously reported, 2016 marked the first year in which less than half of practicing physicians (just over 47 percent) owned their own practice. Nearly a third of doctors (32.8 percent) worked for hospital-owned practices or were employed directly by a hospital in 2016, according to the most recent American Medical Association (AMA) data. That number is expected to increase, since millennial doctors prefer careers as employees rather than as owners.Read More
Burnout continues to be a widespread problem among doctors. Medscape’s 2018 Physician Lifestyle Report polled over 15,000 U.S. physicians from 29 specialties and found that 42 percent said they feel burned out. Another 15 percent reported feeling depressed, and 14 percent of all doctors surveyed said they feel both burned out and depressed.
The median cost of attending a four-year public medical school is more than $240,000. Private medical school fees can exceed $340,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Most medical students rely heavily on financial aid to fund their education. The median education debt for new med school grads is $180,000, with 14 percent of graduates starting their residency owing $300,000 or more.Read More
We hate to break it to you, but neither the best bedside manner in town nor the most impressive degrees on your office wall are enough to attract and keep patients. There’s another factor that forms patients’ first impression of your practice, affects appointment scheduling and daily operations, and ultimately impacts your practice’s reputation and bottom line: your staff.
Doctor burnout is at an all-time high, and many parts of the country are experiencing provider shortages. Is locum tenens—filling a temporary position in a health care setting—the answer to both problems? Doctors who work locum tenens jobs report increased flexibility, freedom over their schedules, and exposure to new techniques and perspectives that help them grow as clinicians, balance work and life, and rekindle their love of medicine. Is locum tenens right for you?Read More
