Melissa Young, MD

After careful consideration, we (meaning my husband and I) decided that my husband would do my billing. After all, other than me, who else truly has an interest in how much gets collected? Who’s going to look at every claim, every invoice, every EOB? And who’s going to figure, yes, it is worth the 44-cent stamp to send that statement for $2.29.

Why am I writing about the weather in a Physicians Practice blog? Because these storms come in the middle of workweeks. On days when the office schedule is full. Prior to the last storm, a couple of patients called the day before to cancel. The weatherman said the snow would start in the morning but it wouldn’t be bad until the afternoon, so I said we’d stay open for the morning and close early.

I was talking a couple of weeks ago to an internist. She had been in solo practice for a couple of years, and then she hired a former co-resident as a second physician. He left the practice after less than two years, and she has since hired a second “second physician.” I told her that I am currently in the process of finding someone for my practice.

I verbally offered a position to another physician. She has verbally accepted. Now to formalize the agreement.

Last week, just as I was about to give up on my 12:15 patient, she called - at 12:25 p.m. - to say she was going to be at the office in 15 minutes. My receptionist, knowing full well what I was going to say, asked her to hold, turned to me and asked me if I would see her. See her?

I won’t kid you. Using an EMR - even one chosen after hours of research, demos, and site visits - isn’t easy. I still get periodic connection problems and these funky little messages telling me I’ve had an “access violation.”

A paperless office? Wait, I can’t stop laughing.

There are only about 5,000 board-certified endocrinologists in the U.S., and so even if they all saw patients (as opposed to being in academia, research, or administration) that would only mean an average of 100 per state. Which is probably why, in my experience, in any given hospital, there is only one group of endos who goes there.

I am embarking on a new adventure. Or what some are describing as a suicide mission. You see, for the last eight years, I have been an employed physician at a community hospital that is an affiliate of a major university hospital, and I am going into solo private practice. No, there was no major falling out, no catastrophe, nothing obvious that set this into motion. Why then, you may ask (everyone else has), am I leaving the security of employment for the uncertainty of a new practice?