Now all physicians in private medical practice, young and old, are being professionally tested to determine whether physicians still have the motivation, determination, perseverance, discernment, character qualities, integrity, love of medical practice, and their heartfelt treatment and care of their medical patients. In the past those unequaled qualities of physicians in clinical medical practice were what created the trust, respect, rapport, confidence, reassurance, and personal attraction to medical doctors that all medical patients held dear and, unfortunately, now we see those factors slowly disappearing day by day.
After reading a large number of books about medical practice, starting a medical practice, dealing with all the many licenses and requirements, and about the business of medical practice, I have come to the conclusion that medicine must be not only the hardest career to qualify for, but also the most difficult business task to manage compared to what I found when I began my private medical practice 1973.
I probably today would never get into medical school, let alone be able to handle the business of independent medical practice requirements of today. I would likely choose to get my medical school training in England or Europe somewhere, for education cost reasons.
Wouldn't it be interesting if all American medical students chose to do their medical school education and training in Europe for money reasons, and American medical schools survived financially only because they had to recruit the students from wealthy foreign families. It could become a
reality soon.
I knew about the great advantage of having and using computers in my medical office in the late 1980s. One day a computer dealer showed up in my office for a PC demo. I bought the whole computer package they offered for $70,000 on a lease. They came to my office several times to teach my office staff how to use their PC programs; the first medical office in my city to get computers. They spent a small amount of time teaching me because I was not interested in taking the time to dive into using computers as long as the staff knew how to use them. My first BIG mistake.
My wife and my medical office manager pushed me into having a car phone
to use in my medical practice rather than a Beeper unit on my belt. That was a first in my area for doctors. Many times, I thanked her for pushing me into it.
I never learned much about computers and how to use them until 1997 when the hospital I was an employee of, required physicians to use computers to do the digital charting work, like dictating operative notes and summaries of our patient's care.
It took another 5 or 6 years for me to really take seriously learning computers inside and out, after retiring from medical practice. I missed a great opportunity in the 1980s and have regretted it since, because I probably would have gained the expertise while kids were learning about the use of computers.
Originally, I thought computers were the height of technology for a while. I was wrong again. Technology knowledge became a persistent requirement for medical practice, which confirmed to me that we never stop learning… whether we like it or not. Computer literacy earned it way into healthcare and for pre-medical students in college, which avoided learning that stuff while in medical school. And that analogy brings up another issue.
I ask myself, if the elements of business and marketing knowledge were available long before medical school and public education students had been taught the business necessities, because medical schools would not need to provide that to medical students. Unfortunately, that's not the case. So why is that not being offered today to all medical students?
Medical schools already know the necessity for a business education of medical students and are outright lying to college and medical school students. The necessity for all business owners, even medical practice business owners, needing a business education has long been known? Perhaps the medical school scholars are business ignorant themselves and think they know the proper path for all medical students?
Is it too expensive of an undertaking? Would it wreck and destroy a century of tradition in the medical profession? Is it a curse placed only on the medical doctors and not on the other two professions that were never given a business education either (Law and Dentistry).
Might it be part of our government's plan to gain full control of healthcare and the medical profession by partnering up with medical schools to join the government plan. In that circumstance, the medical schools prevent medical students from becoming business educated. And that prevents all physicians who are ignorant of business tools use, to maximize practice income, growth, and practice business profitability.
In the end it results in hundreds of physicians in private medical practice annually losing their medical practices for financial reasons due to business ignorance, which herds those doctors into government controlled medical facilities as employees where control of how they practice is dictated to them.
That results in a slow disintegration of private medical practices, which enables government to gain more control over healthcare, which, when private medical practice is eliminated, enables our politicians in Congress to take full control of healthcare. And then permits the government to take over the whole medical profession itself.
Does that sound like what's possible in our future for all physicians?
It's not just a logical sequence of possible government goals because it is already happening, and that we see evidence of daily in the news. When you add to all that the forceful artillery of government medical practice mandates and fee restrictions that are increasingly devastating to private medical practice physicians.
Add to that burnout, major physician frustration with practice, and being forced to see 50% more patients per day in their office to pay the office overhead, you can easily visualize the F-5 tornados headed towards us yet to come.
These things are in the minds of nearly every practicing physician today, whether you believe it or not. Where in hell are our allies, our leaders, our supporters? They have all melted into the lower middle-class environment where they will not be asked to carry the flag into battle.
History surely will produce volumes of details about the death of organized private medical practice, never to be remembered.
Let this ride in your mind for a day or two. It's far more important to our medical careers and our own lifestyle in medical practice.
----Professional Probe----
"The battle physicians have, looks like this.
The odds are against us today."
