Dr Brown: what inspiring words about keeping costs down by not being in a fancy building!!! You went into medicine for the right reasons. Sadly there are too few in medicine like you!! God bless you😘.
I have a small farm in rural Indiana. Following this downtrend and lack of rural practices we are also losing veterinarians in rural areas. I have no large animal vets within 25+ miles and those do not have after hours or weekend service. It’s hard watching my animals struggle or pass for lack of care.
I grew up in the 24/7 environment of country life.
The local doctor cares for you and is for the stuff mom can't fix quickly.
The big city doctor is for the big stuff that the local doctor is not equipped for.
Problem is, every since the "professional colleges" were established in the 1920s, with their motto: Better living through chemicals, the money and politics has followed the "bigger is better" mantra.
We now live in a time where if you have a baby at home, you run the risk of being branded as a "nut job" (I'm not arguing, I'm just calling out an example).
We also live in a time where there is a magic "cure" for everything which contributes to more dependence upon having a trauma center close by even though people want to "get away from it all".
We've made the country so "safe" we are not even allowed to take risks by being too far from services!
Yet, government insists the local clinic meets the same requirements as a big city hospital. And the insurance companies are mercilessly expensive. Both these alone will drive any clinic out of business.
Try operating a clinic without all the government licenses and insurances and sell how far that gets you!
Yes, bigger is better if your goal in life is to be rich!
This sounds like my tiny town’s health clinic. It would be fantastic if we had a little ER available too but with only about 2000 full time residents it’s not feasible. Luckily the hospital system that the clinic is attached to is heavily invested in the very busy clinic so they won’t be pulling out for the foreseeable future. I thank God for doctors like you and the ones in my town.
Jennifer Kudos for your practice priorities and service to your patients!
A big culprit in today's dilemma is corporate medicine gobbling up individual practices like yours, doing your insurance billing so you can see more patients, generate more procedures and infusions for the mother hospital conglomerate that owns you and maybe just maybe you will make the same money you are used to make before complying with all the added aggravation.
Senior partners get a one time payoff. That's handy because they overrule the juniors.
Eventually the health conglomerates will be large publicly traded companies along an Amazon model if they are not already so. Handy for future management by even bigger corporatists of"world health crises."
My thoughts? stay independent, consider a concierge plan trying to wean away from insurance and billing hegemony, assist patients to consume proper OTC meds, life style choices, get drugs at bargain rates, generic if possible.
Sure wish I'd taken my own advice while I was in practice.
I have family in Minco, OK and the closest doctor and hospital are in Oklahoma City, 50 miles away. This area is as rural as it gets. Both of my nieces have heart problems and no transportation. I shudder to think what could happen.
Dr Brown: what inspiring words about keeping costs down by not being in a fancy building!!! You went into medicine for the right reasons. Sadly there are too few in medicine like you!! God bless you😘.
I have a small farm in rural Indiana. Following this downtrend and lack of rural practices we are also losing veterinarians in rural areas. I have no large animal vets within 25+ miles and those do not have after hours or weekend service. It’s hard watching my animals struggle or pass for lack of care.
Bigger is not necessarily better.
I grew up in the 24/7 environment of country life.
The local doctor cares for you and is for the stuff mom can't fix quickly.
The big city doctor is for the big stuff that the local doctor is not equipped for.
Problem is, every since the "professional colleges" were established in the 1920s, with their motto: Better living through chemicals, the money and politics has followed the "bigger is better" mantra.
We now live in a time where if you have a baby at home, you run the risk of being branded as a "nut job" (I'm not arguing, I'm just calling out an example).
We also live in a time where there is a magic "cure" for everything which contributes to more dependence upon having a trauma center close by even though people want to "get away from it all".
We've made the country so "safe" we are not even allowed to take risks by being too far from services!
Yet, government insists the local clinic meets the same requirements as a big city hospital. And the insurance companies are mercilessly expensive. Both these alone will drive any clinic out of business.
Try operating a clinic without all the government licenses and insurances and sell how far that gets you!
Yes, bigger is better if your goal in life is to be rich!
This sounds like my tiny town’s health clinic. It would be fantastic if we had a little ER available too but with only about 2000 full time residents it’s not feasible. Luckily the hospital system that the clinic is attached to is heavily invested in the very busy clinic so they won’t be pulling out for the foreseeable future. I thank God for doctors like you and the ones in my town.
Jennifer Kudos for your practice priorities and service to your patients!
A big culprit in today's dilemma is corporate medicine gobbling up individual practices like yours, doing your insurance billing so you can see more patients, generate more procedures and infusions for the mother hospital conglomerate that owns you and maybe just maybe you will make the same money you are used to make before complying with all the added aggravation.
Senior partners get a one time payoff. That's handy because they overrule the juniors.
Eventually the health conglomerates will be large publicly traded companies along an Amazon model if they are not already so. Handy for future management by even bigger corporatists of"world health crises."
My thoughts? stay independent, consider a concierge plan trying to wean away from insurance and billing hegemony, assist patients to consume proper OTC meds, life style choices, get drugs at bargain rates, generic if possible.
Sure wish I'd taken my own advice while I was in practice.
I have family in Minco, OK and the closest doctor and hospital are in Oklahoma City, 50 miles away. This area is as rural as it gets. Both of my nieces have heart problems and no transportation. I shudder to think what could happen.
❤️🩹