As Hospitals Acquire Doctors’ Practices, Physicians Worrying Quality Of Care Is Taking Back Seat To Productivity
A lawsuit from a Bay Area doctor highlights the stress that experts say physicians across the country are feeling as consolidation ramps up. “There was this constant push to see patients more quickly, see patients in shorter interval times, see more patients in an hour,” said Dr. Diana Blum during her trial against Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group.
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Doctor’s Legal Fight Highlights Medical Industry Pressures
An ongoing legal battle between a Bay Area neurologist and her former employer is shedding light on financial pressures in medicine that experts say could intensify as more doctors’ practices get absorbed by large health systems. ... Hospitals and health systems are acquiring doctors’ practices at a much faster rate than in previous decades, and it’s making some doctors feel they have less independence to make medical decisions. (Ho, 9/9)