Cardiac Wire’s Post

🚨Why Cardiology Practices Are Disappearing?🚨 This Cardiac Wire article highlights ongoing issues I see daily when speaking with physicians. Most of the providers I speak with are solely focused on delivering the best patient care they can, while trying to navigate an ever-changing healthcare landscape. 🌎 🩺 However, various issues are contributing to the rapid decline of private practice, typically revolving around financial pressures, physician burnout, and competition from larger health systems. Presently, these challenges are forcing private practices into the hands of private equity or hospital systems. In the article Todd mentions that due to these challenges, "Nearly 60% of all physician practices are now under hospital or corporate ownership." 🏥 Specifically, this decline is more severe in cardiology, "As estimates suggest that only 10k of the US’ 33k cardiologists remain in independent practices." Why Are Cardiology Practices Being Targeted? 1. Patient Population: As the population ages, the demand for cardiology services increase. 2. Fragmented Market: Competition and lack of synergy between physician in an extremely competitive specialty. 3. Opportunity & Potential: High reimbursements, referral generation, and opportunity for other investments (ACS, OBLs, other procedural labs) make cardiology highly attractive. 📈 What Can Be Done? In response to these challenges, CLS Health is making great strides against these issues by expanding our cardiovascular services, most recently by adding a new Electrophysiology (EP) practice. This coming shortly after the acquisition of Southeast Houston Cardiology and Clear Lake Cardiovascular Consultants making cardiology one of our largest service lines. With over 25+ providers in cardiology now, we plan to ensure our patients have access to comprehensive specialized care under one roof. As we strategically grow throughout the Houston area, we ensure to help physicians maintain their autonomy, build synergy between our physicians, and supply them with outstanding operational support. #healthcare #cardiology #privatepractice

Please check out my latest blog where I delve into careers in the healthcare industry, particularly on the different surgical professions!

Your Weekend Read: Recent scope of practice expansion news. In its last session, the Texas legislature was presented with 140 bills related to the expansion of the scope of practice by non-physician practitioners. Not one of them became law. With patient safety in mind, it is important that physician groups remain vigilant against expanding the scope of practice of non-physicians. #scopecreep #scopeofpracticeexpansion #americanmedicalassociation #radiology #healthcare #medicine

Keratoconus is the most common corneal ectatic disorder worldwide. Currently, it accounts for nearly 30-40% of the corneal tertiary referrals, placing significant burden on the ophthalmic services. To address this issue, several innovative measures have been introduced, including the set up of virtual clinics and allied health professional (AHP)-led clinics. In our recently published article in the Eye journal, we highlight the effectiveness, safety and feasibility of AHP-led keratoconus service model (with minimal consultant support) in managing new and follow-up cases of suspected keratoconus. AHPs, including optometrists and nurse practitioners, were able to make the same correct decision as the corneal consultants in 92% of the cases! For more information, please see the link below: https://lnkd.in/eFkCTE6f Thank you Marianthi Bourlaki, MD for driving this work and the BMEC corneal team (Murad Khan, Saliamma Bandyopadhyay, Rashvinder Sahota, Emadur Khan, Urvasee Patel, Mykolas Pajaujis, Anil Aralikatti, Ankur Barua) for the collaborative effort! These interesting findings also spark another debate - should we be focussing on upskilling existing ophthalmic workforce (including AHPs) versus introducing new roles like physician associates into ophthalmic services? What's your thought on this? #keratoconus #cornea #crosslinking #ophthalmology #service #alliedhealthprofessional #physicianassociate

I found this to be spot on. Great article about the Gastroenterology locums experience!

Where do you rank? Great time of year to assess your professional situation as we're arranging for 2025 placements. ✨ Over 60% of physicians in neurology feel fairly paid. ✨ In late 2023, research firm Bankrate reported that 60% of all U.S. employees believe their incomes aren’t keeping pace with rising costs, even for those who have received a pay bump. ✨ According to the annual Medscape physician compensation report, self-employed physicians (which includes full-time locums) earned 9% more than employed physicians ✨ If you’d like to increase your earnings, locum tenens might be what you’re looking for. Reach out to start a conversation! stacey.lawton@weatherbyhealthcare.com

Cardiology’s private practice declines are part of a wider trend across all of medicine, with the AMA estimating that the share of US doctors in private practice dropped from 76% in the early 80s to under 47% in 2022. Meanwhile, nearly 60% of all physician practices are now under hospital or corporate ownership.

Given the difficult financial situations experienced by many hospital systems, how do we make the pervasive use of shielding technology a reality? Some of the doctors we spoke with suggested a radical yet simple economic incentive—the provision of additional reimbursement for cases where adjunctive radiation shielding is used. But this is not something hospital systems should wait for. If we take a long-term view of the costs associated with orthopedic injury alone, we see that hospitals and the medical system writ large are sustaining huge productivity losses due to their systematic loss of talented physicians, nurses, and techs. And even aside from the loss of human capital associated with losing an employee, there are downstream effects to consider. When we lose someone, suddenly someone else needs to conduct an exhaustive job search for a talented replacement. Then, the new employee, even if they are extremely talented, must undergo some amount of on-the-job training conducted by workers who already have full plates of work. This cascading series of hidden costs should be enough to make hospital systems take notice of the tolls of orthopedic injury and cancers developed by interventional staff. But if it is not enough, they might consider the social contract they should be entering into with all of their staff. Perhaps it might be phrased like so: as you, the employee, devote your time, energy, and soul into caring for patients and creating profits for the hospital system, you are entitled to a safe workplace. You, and your family, are entitled to your ability to go home each night, and to someday retire, with a healthy body unencumbered by pain and disability. This clip is from Episode 6 of Scattered Denial, which is now streaming on the film's website and YouTube, along with the rest of the film. Our Website: www.scattereddenial.com Scattered Denial on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gYHGR693 

Here is an insightful Medscape piece by Patrice Wendling on the growing suicide risk among surgeons. The United States Air Force, another high-pressure profession, curbed its #suicide rate among airman by 42% between 1994 and 1998 through establishing a central surveillance database, restructuring prevention services, and conducting annual #suicideprevention and awareness training, using gatekeepers to channel at-risk personnel to appropriate agencies and performing #mentalhealth questionnaires at enrollment and annually. Dr. Wendy Dean, Founder of the Moral Injury of Healthcare, describes this systemic problem in compelling and practical ways in her book, "If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It's So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First." The most effective solutions are systems-based, but empathy and kindness can also be fruitful. "We need to be kinder to each other, to look out for each other, and to talk to each other," - Dr. James Harrop These impactful medical leaders need safe environments to be heard and understood. Looking for pathways for physicians to regain some of the professional autonomy they've lost over the past several decades can also go a long way. Autonomy over their medical decision making and their work schedules may help ensure that physicians can keep the commitments they stated in their medical school interviews. It's worth noting that health system administrators, often branded by physicians as barriers to progress in this area, share some of the same desires for their own lives and work environments. Perhaps we're more similar than different, and we can find solutions together when we choose to see the humanity in others. https://lnkd.in/gg8rjE3n American Hospital Association American College of Healthcare Executives National Rural Health Association National Rural Health Resource Center America's Essential Hospitals Kansas Hospital Association Erin Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care

🌟 Discover the inspiring story of Anna and Michelle in our March Newsletter. Learn how mentorship in the fields of anaesthesia, intensive care, and perioperative medicine can shape careers and foster meaningful connections that last a lifetime. Read the full article here: hi.switchy.io/Ltsx #ESAICNewsletter #ESAICMentorship