Changing the PrivatePractice.MD Mission

The focus of the discussion on PrivatePractice.MD is changing from this point forward. When I first thought about starting a website for doctors in private practice, I planned to develop a team of medical practice experts to teach all of the doctor members useful facts and impart general business knowledge that most doctors don’t get taught in their long education.

Medical practice experts will still be part of this goal, and many of the upcoming podcasts will feature these experts. But I realize that there are many fine brick and mortar and internet resources for medical practice management information available to physicians.

Living the doctor lifestyle encompasses more than patient care, and certainly more than running the small (or not so small) business of a medical practice. Training interferes with the trial and error lessons of the late teens and twenties that most non-physicians experience and learn when they’re young. It’s just a different life education path for most doctors, compared to their non-medical family and peers.

Medical schools are great at teaching young doctors how to diagnose and treat disease. But medical schools forget to teach doctors the other lessons they need to learn about the business of medicine, and how to manage all the other aspects of their lives.

PrivatePractice.MD hopes to fill that void. Upcoming articles and podcasts will reflect this new direction aimed at rounding out a doctor’s training. There will be informational articles, and articles spotlighting successful doctors and innovative medical practices. But I want this site to be a conversation. Please join the discussion. Listen to the podcasts (coming soon!). Leave comments here and on the toll-free comment line (coming soon,with the podcasts). Find the PrivatePractice.MD Fan Page on Facebook. Share your thoughts, hints, and experiences. Ask questions so other doctors and medical practice experts can answer. Time to finish our education. Doctor, heal thyself! It will be good for your health and the health of your patients and practice. It will be true Reform.