At first, it seemed a good trade. Limited number work hours per week. And the hospital or corporation worried about the payroll and billing headaches. Working for the man or corporate entity is not fun. They dictate that the physician is limited to 15 minutes per office visit and have to make reports to the corporate can judge the efficiency of the doctor in assembly line healthcare and of course to ensure the proper upcoding can occur. It seems doctors are now similar to an associate in a lawyer office.
Hospital & corporate owners are solely concerned with profit. Patient care comes in a distant second place.
More and more doctors are leaving medicine.
However a certain subsection of physicians are doing well. Those that practice concierge medicine. The doctors get $2k to $10k up front and thus can spend as much time as necessary. And patients have near immediate access to their doctor.
Currently it takes me roughly a month to see a doctor. Luckily I have not had a serious condition that needed a quick look-see by a doctor. I wonder if I would be squeezed in to see the physician in a day or two or if I would be referred to an urgent care facility or an ER?
My Primary Care doctor’s practice was bought by a healthcare conglomerate in 4Q 2024. The website now says that they are now requiring everyone to be on Medicare Advantage – though the office staff seem to think the regular Medicare folks will be grandfathered-in. We’ll see.
In any event, I’ll get my primary care in the emergency room, before I’ll sign up for a Medicare Advantage plan.
For those who didn’t notice, health insurance companies flew today, on chatter there will be a big increase in Medicare Advantage payment rates…must take care of the “JCs”, regardless of cost, eh?
I had a conversation with a young dental student at OHSU last year who was going to be graduating in a few months. She was the second set of hands required for a crown prep they were doing on me.
She told me she was going to work for a dental practice in Portland, but she cut a deal with them that she’d work for half pay as long as they didn’t pressure her on production numbers. She wanted to be able to take the time to do the work right.
I don’t know, maybe she’s independently wealthy? Most of the students seem to be graduating with $500,000-$600,000 in debt and need to make bank after they graduate.
I got lucky with my dentist. He is probably only a few years younger than me, so may start thinking about retiring, before I go toes up. No worries. His son graduated dental school a few years ago, and joined the practice. Over the last couple years I have noticed it seems the father has already handed me over to son.
I had to switch docs when I retired, because the existing doc did not take the United Health coverage I bought. He was white haired then. I drove past his office last week. The sign was gone. He must have retired.
The doc I switched to, a dozen years ago, works in a big clinic, owned by a hospital. He’s probably in his 40s. If he quits, or falls off his perch, I’ll be handed over to another doc in the same clinic.
I am sure the corporate bosses were quick to seal the deal. As time passes she will be pressured by the corporate owners to increase production methinks.
Methinks also that being a doctor, in the largely corporate owned US healthcare system, has turned it into a cr*appy work environment. Fewer and fewer young folks will be interested in the profession. And with the aging demographics of the nation; it will be harder to obtain healthcare in the nation. And the aging nation means even more unfunded social security & medicare liabilities that could break those systems. I just hope the system will hang in there for another 10 years which is about my remaining lifespan.