In response to the AMC takeover of our specialty:
We are physicians. On the whole, we suck at business decisions, planning, and are uneducated in that arena. Not to mention that in order to make money, we need to be spending time doing tasks which are not related to business. You are meeting with administrators or outside parties who are able to spend a good 8 hours preparing for a meeting with you that is scheduled on your post call day after a AAA kept you awake and stressed out all night with no time to prepare for the meeting. The can plot, hold other meetings, consensus gather and sway opinions before you ever step in the room, all while you are busy doing your job.
We will almost always lose out to a guy who is equally smart, but has become as good at business as we have at medicine. This does not mean that we need to give up all hope of ever doing well financially, but we need to take a good look in the mirror. Embrace the fact that you are not a businessman. If you need help, obtain it. Even small groups are multimillion dollar companies, and you look at a typical group meeting for an hour or two once or twice a month to solve issues as they come up. Completely inadequate when compared to any other business.
It is amazing to me that so many groups do so well, and honestly I am surprised that it has taken so long for AMCs to become as prevalent as they are. It is a testament to all of our hard work and dedication that they are not fully in control. I feel that we need to re-evaluate our roles in leading groups and businesses in a manner which places us at a disadvantage from the moment we begin.
To me, it is odd that we hire employees (CRNAs) at a rate higher than many small company's CEOs earn and refuse to open the purse for help from those who have been trained to grow and maintain a business. We look down on them and insult groups which are led by them, as we sit and watch our livelihoods get swallowed up into ever larger competitors. We need to fight back on the playing field that they are on, not just on the merits of our professional relationships or clinical skills.
Even a perfect group is at some risk under the right circumstances, but you need to evaluate and discern how to ensure those circumstances never arise. I doubt many of us can do this well without help of some sort. I commend those who can succeed at this and hope that some day with a lot more experience I still have the option of trying. Thank you to those who started the private groups out there and have are run them well enough to allow them to survive. For those who do not understand the topic of a buyin to partnership and the value that those who lead these groups have accrued, thank you for not joining those groups and leaving more spots for a guy like me. I have found my little slice of heaven, paid my dues and now am an equal partner to the guy that founded the group. Zero regret for the lost income in the beginning.