Cut-throat Contract Wars in Anesthesia

[denied]

I am looking for interesting articles that show the down side of Anesthesia management companies. I am looking for articles to help Docs who like Jetprop are getting fired or kicked off staff to make way for an Anesthesia Management company take over the contract.

The Emergency medicine form had a thread "Cut-throat Contract Wars in EM" which contained a link to an anti Management company e-book. Does anyone know of a similar book or articles about anesthesia and links to them.

http://www.aaem.org/rem/The_Rape_of_Emergency_Medicine.pdf
This short, but interesting read, talks about many of the same topics.

"As through this world I ramble,
I see lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six gun,
Some with a fountain pen."

Woodie Guthrie

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[Monty Python]

I am looking for interesting articles that show the down side of Anesthesia management companies. I am looking for articles to help Docs who like Jetprop are getting fired or kicked off staff to make way for an Anesthesia Management company take over the contract.

Unfortunately it's called free market capitalism. As long as contracts and other legalities are honored the world will always beat a path to the door of whoever can build a better/cheaper mousetrap.

No that doesn't take away the sting. It may fail the definition of "niceness" or diplomacy. And to heck with loyalty. But with the encroachment of the business model into medicine these things will happen.

 

[gaspasser2004]

I actually read all 310 pages of this book and was appalled at how a select few people were able to make so much money abusing both physicians and patients.

My "ideal" practice model that I would hope to join consists of a democratically governed group with a fair partnership track that has a contract with a local hospital. To play devils adovcate though, there are many "local groups" out there who churn and burn physicians just like the management companies, the difference being the management companies do it better.

The problem is that as physicians, we are generally an altruistic bunch who certainly want and deserve to make money, but want to do it by doing good works. That makes it even easier for the few physicians among us who have the "cutthroat" mentality to rip the rest of us off.

In the end, I think sunshine is the best disinfectant. If someone gets screwed over by a group, they should tell people about it, either on this board or through alumni connections. Groups would be a lot more cautious over what they did if they knew people would find out about it. And we have to educate ourselves about what is reasonable and what is not when signing a contract and preferably have a lawyer look at it. Unfortunately, this is the "real world" and there are a lot of people out there just waiting to screw you - extremely sad when you consider that they are fellow physicians.

 

[denied]

Unfortunately it's called free market capitalism. As long as contracts and other legalities are honored the world will always beat a path to the door of whoever can build a better/cheaper mousetrap.

No that doesn't take away the sting. It may fail the definition of "niceness" or diplomacy. And to heck with loyalty. But with the encroachment of the business model into medicine these things will happen.

"Brokers’ trafficking in physicians has now become institutionalized. You’re going to have to pay a right to work fee to some ‘suit’ of whatever stripe forever, some ‘suit’ subleasing that one-twentieth of an acre on the hospital’s first floor with a perpetual lien on your income, simply garnishing from your earnings."