The coming shortage of physicians is real and, if not addressed soon, is going to have a serious impact on healthcare in this country. There are many articles out there supporting this, but interestingly, they all seem to underestimate the different goals that Generation X and Generation Y have with employment. I finished residency in 2001 and my wife in 2002. We have no interest in the lifestyle of Baby Boomer doctors. Working 80 hours a week just does not do it for us. We have two small children and don't want to watch them grow up to be typical doctor's kids....out of control brats that end up as delinquents.
I have done about 30 interviews for my website, MDJobexchange.com and most of these colleagues of mine agree that having a life is more important than the dollar. At the same time, people do need to make an income because of the huge amount of debt that medical students are carrying.
I think that physicians need to start thinking about how to capitalize on the coming shortage. Some already are via call compensation and agreements with hospitals to pay them for uninsured patients. Insurance companies are making huge profits and I think it is high time that physicians regain some of their lost ground. The amount of money America is spending on Healthcare has not decreased, it has gone up significantly, but doctors' income has gone down. All that has changed, is who is getting the money. As physicians, if we do not demand to be paid more, we will not get it.
The AMA has done a weak to poor job of protecting our interests. I think they are more concerned with generating revenue from CPT. Most specialty societies get about a C or maybe a D+. Some specialty societies are preparing a campaign to get Medicare to pay more. That may have some effect, but what really needs to happen is for doctors to take the attitude that it is the patient's insurance, not the doctor's insurance. The patient can collect whatever pittance the insurance company is willing to throw them.
I will have a great deal more content coming to MDJobexchange, as well as more interviews. I have a great interview with a guy who does physician contract review, as well as one of the leaders in physician locums tenens and recruiting. I think these will help give physicians a different perspective when looking at jobs.
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