As the chill of Obamacare becomes felt, more and more physicians are looking for alternatives to commoditized medical practice.
For example, practice alternatives include concierge medicine, mobile practice, franchise operations, and what I term “disruptive medicine” – the creation of either, or both, new technologies and new delivery systems.
Within the four walls of what is now viewed as traditional medical practice, physicians are generally placed, and have placed themselves, into silo-like specialties. In some cases, specialists within one specialty complain that those from another are “poaching” their territory — take imaging studies being done by cardiologists, for example, and the reaction that engenders among radiologists.
On the other hand, many of the ways out require that physicians see themselves in roles larger than a single specialty or see the walls of their specialty as subject to a retrofit. Take, for example, the cardiologists in the above example.
So, allow me to knock down some walls and really mix metaphors: If you’re on a ship that you know is sinking, and sinking fast, you can take the lifeboat, or swim for safety. You can also stay on board and cry about your “fate.” You do have a choice.
