Suddenly Alone: A Medical Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Your Own Medical Practice
DOC VS. WORLD
Imagine being safely ensconced in group practice one day, just going through the motions, but nonetheless enjoying your day: talking to colleagues, consulting with patients, maybe even enjoying lunch, driving home, talking about your day with a friend or spouse, and then walk to work the next morning, only to find yourself jobless and fired. Or, if that doesn’t convince you enough, imagine arriving at work one day and discovering that not only are your keys mysteriously no longer working, but a security guard is preventing you from entering the building, where all your files are locked away.
Here’s another dream scenario: Imagine coming back from a long-awaited and much-anticipated relaxing vacation to find that your partner has conspired with another and effectively stolen your practice. Or how about this: Imagine her managing partner failed to pay her premium because of malpractice, meaning she lost coverage and couldn’t get it back.
Whether you’re in a large or small group, an employee or a partner, in academia or private practice, you’re at risk of being fired, and you most certainly can be. This is the economic equivalent of being involved in a shipwreck, injured, and then stranded on a desert island. What would you do?
I know your first instinct would be to cry; maybe even go into denial for a few hours; thirty minutes, maximum. But this part is very important: your first priority is not to panic. Panic will prevent you from calling on all those survival skills you learned in school, training, and life. Panic also wastes time, and on this particular type of occasion, time is of the essence.
This is the point where your brain starts to engage with the reality of your situation, and you’ll start thinking about your financial state and how, if you don’t start generating cash flow, almost immediately, your reserves will quickly disappear and you’ll die. You will be on the street, living in a box. Today, the Mercedes-tomorrow, the food stamp line.