Doctors can compete by understanding forces that determine any industry's profitability.
In times past, medicine was Camelot and physicians its kings. While American medical training is generally regarded as the best in the world, it was not conceived with the idea that physicians lead health care in a market economy. Physicians' failure to understand and adapt to the rapidly changing economic rules of health care are a chief cause of their downsized role, influence and autonomy. Declining physician morale, skyrocketing physician disability claims and often rocky relationships between physicians and health plans are merely symptoms of this misalignment. To regain leadership and restore morale, physicians need skills and strategies to help them work effectively in a maturing industry.