It’s Our Business
“The fundamental problem is doctors get as much training on business in medical school, as I got in business school on medicine.. which is zero..”
Matthew Gillogly hits it out of the ballpark with this very quote alone, as he covers the topic in How To Sustain A Business In Medicine.
Yes, as a formerly practicing internist I absolutely think we need at least some business classes during our training. We do our medical students a disservice with the absence of this relevant niche while still in school.
We do our medical students a disservice with the absence of this relevant niche (the business of medicine) while still in school. Click To TweetKeeping us in the dark, so to speak, robs us of the ability to dole out care while still maintaining control of the patient-physician relationship, in the direction best fit for these TWO entities.
The “middles” should have always been a silent “enhancement” – insurances, legalities, EMRs, etc.
But instead, healthcare is now in the pits. Because those middles, and new players on top of this (yes, private equity, I’m looking at you), actually DID take those business classes, and decided to use their knowledge to take advantage of those of us who just didn’t have the time.
Others Weigh In
I posted about this topic on my Linkedin account, and got some interesting comments to weigh in, which I’d like to share with you here:
Grace Torres, a podiatrist and recent author wrote:
“Spot On and Completely agree!!!! That was one of the reasons why I wrote my book Private Practice Solution. And adjunct to that, an introduction to financial literacy should be mandatory in high school – in medical school is almost too late.”
You can read more about her book, in fact, here (as she’s a SoMeDocs NETWORK member.
“100% agree,” said Asha Padmanabhan, and then continued with:
“100% agree. I believe the business of medicine should be an integral part of our med school and residency curriculum. We do ourselves and our future physicians a huge disservice by not offering this in the learning stages. There are so many lessons I had to learn the hard way through making mistakes which could have been avoided if I’d been taught how to run a practice.
I’d be interested on hearing thoughts on how to make this happen.”
To which I replied that “I think it should be incorporated into both medical school and residency training. We need to step into attending-hood, understanding what we face. Being comfortable with becoming our own bosses.”
Michael Wholey, a Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiologist, a cardiovascular and interventional radiologist had this fantastic comment to add:
“Replace the teaching of the Kreb’s cycle with that of the revenue cycle.”
I could not agree with him more.
John Silver, PhD, RN asked
“So why would we want them running health systems?”
“Well,” I replied, “There are doctors who actually DO understand business. There are even doctors who earn additional degrees. So if a doctor has those qualifications, it’s a win-win that they run healthcare systems.”
Doctors today are doing SO MANY things on the side. Join an exclusive Facebook community for doctors only (accepting medical docs, dentists, podiatrists) to discuss everything from publishing, to real estate, to other ways to keep other ways we stay busy (& happy).
Another interesting and thought provoking comment made by Allen D, a board-certified neurologist:
“This is a “feature” not a “bug” in the system, in my humble opinion.”
All comments that make you think, eh?
If you’d like to leave a comment in the LinkedIn post, you can find it here.
If any of these thoughts speak to you, and you have a lengthier response that can be published, please submit it here. It will get circulated across our social media platforms and is more likely to get seen.
Remember, our specialty is starting discussions, and circulating them!
