How Oncologists Are Bypassing Employment Trend

While physicians overall are shifting from private practice to employment, large numbers of oncologists are bucking the employment trend, choosing to band together instead of selling to a hospital system. At the beginning of 2012, 10 private oncology practices united under a single provider identification number and a single tax ID to become Regional Cancer Care Associates (RC2A). The group now includes nearly 80 oncologists, 500 employees, and close to 300 chemotherapy chairs at 20 sites, stretching the length of New Jersey. There are plans to add 2 more practices by the end of the year, bringing the total number of physicians to over 100.

The merger of practices into RC2A was a way of getting ready for the era of accountable care. As ACOs take hold as a central component of healthcare reform, providers will have to focus more on care coordination and on collaboration, no matter where patients come from or are referred to. Beyond economics, the new practice wants to improve the quality of care and advance research as well. Licitra says the practice is looking also at ways to reduce hospitalizations to ensure a better quality of life for people being treated for cancer. 

Read the full article in MedScape, or click here: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/768815

Increase in Physician Practice Mergers and Acquisitions Expected to Continue

According to data released this July by Irving Levin Associates, a research firm based in Norwalk, Connecticut, there is an increase in the amount of money spent on medical practice mergers and acquisitions from the second quarter of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011.

A hospital or health system purchasing an existing practice is another way hospital employment is increasing in physician employment models.


Read the full article in American Medical News, or click here: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/08/13/bisd0814.htm?utm_source=nwltr&utm_medium=heds-txt&utm_campaign=20120820

6 Critical Questions for Residents to Ask When Evaluating a Physician Practice

There are many criteria any physician needs to ask his or herself prior to selecting their first job out of training.

It is hard to consider every factor when evaluating several different opportunities; here is a checklist from Adventures in Medicine noting a few key points in evaluating an offer.

Read the full article by clicking here: http://www.adventuresinmedicine.net/doctor-career/6-critical-questions-to-ask-when-evaluating-a-practice/?goback=%2Egde_76194_member_147576360

Competition Increases for Physician Recruitment

For either Family Practice and Internal Medicine physicians as well as Surgeons and Specialists, now is the time to start recruiting for physician openings starting in 2013 or even 2014.

Hospitals and groups that are able to anticipate future need and willing to sign physicians in excess of 1 year prior to their availability will get the best choice of top physicians out of leading training programs.

Many 2013 residency or fellowship graduates have already signed with positions to start next summer, many others are in the process of interviewing and selecting positions to start once they complete their training.

Read more in an article from Physician's Practice by clicking here: http://www.physicianspractice.com/blog/content/article/1462168/2095255

Solo Private Practice Not Dead

Despite the recent media attention to the transition of hospital employment and the solo practice physician completely phasing out, there is and will always be a market available to those physicians in any specialty who wish to run a solo practice.

Market trends are making it harder to stay competitive and with all of the attention to quality of life hospital employed opportunities are becoming more appealing to many physicians, however there will always be room for those physicians who wish to operate a private and even solo practice.

Healthcare Finance News has published a recent article on how solo practice physicians can thrive in even this market, and how there will be room for a solo model in any market condition.  Solo physicians may have to shift to adjust to market trends and stay competitive, but they will never be completely phased out.

Read the full article by clicking here:
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/solo-practice-physicians-im-not-dead?goback=%2Egde_3898461_member_141158532