Leaders are concerned about the effect of consolidation as physicians continue to flock to employed models.
More than 77% of U.S. physicians are employed by hospitals, health systems or corporate entities, according to an Avalere study, and this number will likely grow as it becomes more difficult to meet margins independently.
Richard Goldstein, MD, colon and rectal surgeon at Langhorne, Pa.-based Center for Colon and Rectal Health, joined Becker's to discuss why corporatization is the biggest threat to physicians right now.
Question: What's the biggest threat to physicians right now?
Dr. Richard Goldstein: The biggest threat to physicians is the corporatization of healthcare. There is essentially no practical difference, from the physician's perspective, between private equity groups or hospital chains, whether for-profit or non-profit. For a few physicians the pay is extraordinary, for most it is not. The pressure to continually see more patients, or perform more procedures, is never-ending.
This was a Faustian bargain. Physicians have lost their authority, their autonomy, and their prestige, becoming widgets in a machine.Yet, they still retain personal liability for outcomes. They are also usually bound by outrageous restrictive covenants that force a geographic relocation in order to change employers. Some physicians are even ignorant enough to sign a restrictive covenant that goes into effect even when their employer lays them off or fires them. Physicians often stay in a poor employment situation so as not to uproot their families.