Is private practice dying? 5 reasons why Dr. Reed Wilson says 'Yes'

Practice Management

The concept of private practice is dying, according to a new article in Forbes, and the federal government is partially to blame.

Here are five key reasons why physicians are opting for an alternative route:

 

1. Much legislation, including the Affordable Care Act, was enacted to encourage consolidation with the idea that larger organizations would become more data-driven and effective than private practice. Whereas 62 percent of physicians were independent in 2008, only 35 percent were independent in 2014, according to a Physicians Foundation report.

 

2. Financial incentives in the ACA favor larger organizations. Physicians must now report outcomes to Medicare and those who don’t will see their reimbursement rates drop. However, costs are higher at hospital-owned practices according to Medicare reimbursement rates.

 

3. There have been new regulations for medical practices over the past decade that increase regulatory and reporting burden. Private practices have a hard time meeting the new regulations while larger organizations can help physician practices maintain compliance.

 

4. ACOs encourage collaboration and receive financial bonuses. There have been 744 ACOs created since 2011, according to the report.

 

5. Data-driven care encourages protocols to guide patients through the process, even if that process isn’t quite right for the patient. Small private practices allow for a more intimate relationship to develop treatment plans. The Commonwealth Fund found in a 2014 study that fewer patients with preventable problems were going to the hospital when they had physicians in small private practices.

 

“The evidence points to a simple conclusion: The decline of private practice is hiking costs, harming patients and destroying the doctor-patient relationship that is foundational to healthcare itself,” wrote the report’s author Reed Wilson, MD, CEO of Private Practice Doctors and a practicing cardiologist and internist in Beverly Hills, Calif.

 

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