Hundreds of millions of patients. Billions of dollars. Countless corporate resources are devoted to either saving those dollars or capturing them as revenue. As such, it has become an intensely competitive arena. Physician practice management companies led by seasoned entrepreneurs and venture capitalists seek millions of public dollars from Wall Street as they purchase the revenue streams of physicians.
Insurance companies leverage capital and market savvy into generous shares of the premium dollar.
All the while, our colleagues, pressured by artificial deadlines and lured by up front capital and promises of future wealth and security, turn to these enterprises for employment. We must create and embrace our own vision for the future of medicine in the Delaware Valley, seeing clearly in our minds eye, a new, profoundly different, dramatically improved system for the delivery of health care in our community. Progressive ideas by their very nature transcend what might appear to be formidable odds. If as physicians we fail to develop and pursue our own vision for the future of health care delivery, then we not only abandon unparalleled opportunity, but also our profession and our patients. The corporatization of health care in America has begun in earnest.