Physician's Practice - November 2008 - (Page 45)

mushroom. But they’re the lucky ones, says Craig. “We both have spouses who work and do well ﬁnancially. I could not pay back my school loans and raise a family with the salary I’m earning.” To be fair, women don’t do all the child-rearing these days. With more male/female parity than ever before in family duties, male doctors are picking the kids up from soccer, too — sometimes all on their own. When asked if he ever had to juggle notch to the “mixed” category — a tad less pessimistic. Granted, there’s still much work to do, and it would sure be swell if most physicians could mark the “robust — my practice is thriving and my margins are solid” box. But that means changing — a scary concept to many. It can be done, though. Familypractice-doc-turned-hospice-specialist Marsh did it. The joy of practicing medicine resonates in his voice as he “Some of the expectations that we put on ourselves limit our abilities. We’re very independent, which is part of our problem.” SELF-SABOTAGING Stephen Marsh, hospitalist work and family needs with his career as a physician, Jade Norton, a family care physician at Eagleridge Family Medicine in Pueblo, Colo., responded, “Ohhhh yahhh. I have three small children, and I’m a single 42-year-old dad.” BLESSED ARE THE NOT-SO-MEEK Our survey shows that for the most part you’re busy but not frazzled, although there are variations to this theme. (See “How Busy Are You?” on the previous page.) “What we see is an increase in morale,” Mosley says. “[Primary-care physicians] all felt like second-class citizens; that is changing. They’re getting asked to dance again.” Our survey certainly reveals fewer wallﬂowers. Last year, 13.6 percent of partner respondents were afraid they would have to close their practices within the next ﬁve years. This year, only 3.6 percent of surveyed partners are feeling discouraged enough to considering stopping the practice of medicine. That 10 percent seems to have shifted up a WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM describes how fulﬁlling hospice work is to him. “I go out to people’s homes, and you see what’s really going on in their lives. You see why they are the way they are,” he says. “We’re not just ‘death angels.’ We work as a team — the nurses, the chaplain, the doctors, everyone. We help the whole patient.” Marsh’s stance is that many physicians unwittingly self-sabotage their own happiness with the very traits that help them become good doctors: autonomous, perfectionist, hard-working. “Some of the expectations that we put on ourselves limit our abilities,” says Marsh. “We’re very independent, which is part of our problem.” It’s a ﬁne balance, using these common traits advantageously. Indeed, Norton believes in good ol’ hard work. He and his partner do everything they can to make their family practice as accessible and attuned to their patients’ needs as possible. This means an open-access scheduling model, which he says encourages patients to come to his ofﬁce, rather than an urgent care clinic, emergency room, or retail clinic. He relies on hospitalists for his admitted patients (except for children, but this only happened twice in the past year). “Using the hospitalist service has allowed me to see more patients in the office vs. rounding in the hospitals,” says Norton. This, of course, increases his volume. Norton also believes in keeping a tight focus, saying, “I don’t believe in increasing revenue by using a lot of unnecessary ancillary procedures.” Most doctors seem to agree with him on this, by the way. This year, we polled physicians on whether they supplement their incomes with ancillary services. About 85 percent said uh-uh, not happening. For the few that do, 9.0 percent do some sort of in-house diagnostic testing, 3.4 percent perform minor surgical procedures, and a scant 1.9 percent sell health products. Jaundiced eyes regarding ancillary services come from other perspectives as well. “A concern we’ve always had is that they’re trained to be a family-care physician; we expect them to do that,” says recruiter Mosley. “It all goes back to access. If they’re doing these other procedures, it takes away their access.” DO YOU LIKE BEING A PARTNER IN YOUR PRACTICE? 8.97% I really regret becoming a partner and wish I could become an employed physician. 31.72% It’s OK, but I’m not sure the monetary rewards are worth the risks and headaches. 59.31% I’m happy with my partnership. NOVEMBER 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 45 http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physician's Practice - November 2008

Physician's Practice - November 2008 Contents Death of Solo Practice Just a Myth Letters HSAy What? Noteworthy Finding Lost Revenue: The Search for Billing and Coding Gold Getting More: Our Annual Physician Compensation Survey ’Tis the Season to be Neutral Ask the Experts Evaluating Paperless Labs HR in a Box? The Guide Coding Third-Party Audits on the Rise Branding the Cash-Only Practice Intra-Office Tug-of-Wars Stickin‘ Up For Yourself Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physician's Practice - November 2008

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