Mastering The Business of Medicine & The Doctor-Patient Relationship

Book excerpt: I have wanted to write a book about the “business of medicine” for a long time now. “Why?”, you ask. The reason is because I have seen so many doctors give up, switch careers, or sell out to large conglomerates of health care employers because the physicians were not able to succeed on their own. This has been so hard for me to watch. Unfortunately, the business of medicine is not taught in, or part of, medical school curriculums. As such, these poor health care providers just went into the profession blind. They had no idea what to expect. There was no guidance or direction provided during their training. There was just ignorance and naiveté when they came out into the world. They were left to figure it out for themselves and just told to flap their wings and fly. Well, I want to change that. I think it should be. In fact, I think it must be, and I’m on a mission to make it happen. In medical school, there are no business courses about etiquette, people skills, public speaking, finance, accounting, billing, collections, accounts receivable, accounts payable, banking, wealth management, money management, budgeting, investments, economics, business management, human resources, etc. All these courses should be required. My goal is to make this book mandatory reading material on every health care provider’s educational curriculum. It will not only teach you how to succeed in the business of medicine, but in the specialty of medicine, as well.