Going From Working As a Hospital Employee to Working As a VC Backed Direct Primary Care Employee
I thought I would share this Simpsons clip as a perfect representation of those doctors leaving the FFS system and jumping into bed with a PE/VC-backed Direct Primary Care company.
I do want to set the record straight, however. This does NOT mean working for a physician-owned DPC practice falls into the same category. I have seen tons of examples of how they are great places to work. If anything, I have heard more stories where the employed doctor has not worked out because of one reason or another (the most common being he or she didn’t want to work hard enough to justify their salary).
In summary:
- Buyer beware.
- PE/VC backed DPC companies are about the same as being employed by a hospital.
- The Simpsons always give great material for any analogy or metaphor.
Just have to be in the right geographical and economically balanced area to pull this off. DPC practices can fail too. If it works out though it can be a better working environment. I am suspicious that most of these practices are “office only” and the patients get sent to the E.R. if really sick and then admitted to unattached doctors. Me thinks not many DPC docs do office, hospital and take call for patients. If another group’s docs do it all, the folks will NOT partake in DPC. Period! They’ll go to the practice that takes their medical card and public aid! That’s why this model WILL NOT work in a rural area with lower “economically statused” people. The docs there have to do all the three things I outline above. I’m retired but do have contact with the practice I spent my whole career at. The administrator told me they still get very qualified doctors applying to practice in the older fashion. I find that interesting and heartening.