Increase in Hospital Employment Positions

The New York Times and The New England Journal of Medicine have both recently published articles on the increasing trend of physicians seeking employed opportunities. The articles both reference physicians being motivated by a higher quality of life offered by employed positions, presumably as compared to private practice.

The New England Journal of Medicine documents the increase in hospital employed positions, rising from just over 20% in 2002 to over 50% in 2008, the last year for which the study had data.

The New York Times article highlights the dramatic changes in physician employment as being driven by doctors' evolving professional and personal goals. The Times article chronicles the lives of three generations of Pennsylvania doctors: starting with the grandfather, a family physician in the 1940s who worked 80+ hours per week, and ending with a granddaughter, a hospital-based ER doctor named Kate Dewar, who works 36 hours per week so she can be home with her new twins.

In the 1990s, hospitals pushed to hire doctors to fill out their referral networks, as managed care took over. Now, the trend is "more physician-driven" as doctors choose to forego the "hassles of private practice" such as insurance and government billing requirements and the administration of a large office.

However we feel there will also be a place for private practices, both to offer options to patients and maintain quality of care. Physician offices also provide good jobs in local economies, and physicians can still enjoy a good quality of life with shared call, business and billing consultants, and can control how they would like to run their practice.

Read the article in the New York Times by clicking here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/health/02resident.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&ref=homepage&src=me

Read the article in the New England Journal of Medicine by clicking here: http://healthpolicyandreform.nejm.org/?p=14045&query=TOC