Everyday Routine Can Bore Doctors
One doctor with a thriving medical practice in California
, suddenly accepted a position in a corporation; he traded his shingle for a corporate name plate. He states that his job was no longer thrilling. He remarked on how he had simply converted into a talking and listening physician. Because malpractice insurance was so extremely expensive, he was no longer allowing his group to perform certain procedures such as surgery, or getting involved with the treatment of complex medical problems. He said he felt like he was nothing more than the middleman between the patient and the specialist.
This doctor exchanged his place in a group practice to become the assistant medical development director for a pharmaceutical manufacturer in New Jersey. He is among the increasing ranks of doctors who have transitioned into the corporate realm. The physicians who have become affiliated with corporations are fatigued by the trials of private practice, the prevalence of governmental and insurance-related meddling in medical matters, the political atmosphere in academia and the necessity of drumming up research money. A particular municipality, needing to better employee wellness and product safety, is happy to bring them aboard. The majority are still employed in the medical realm, some in occupational health advisory roles, some in pharmaceutical research, though business has emerged has having more appeal for some than medicine does.
Doctors can make salaries that exceed what is possible in a private practice. Benefits of these new corporate positions include regular hours with vacation time, teaching and study opportunities, company paid malpractice insurance and benefit packages that can equal the practitioner's salary.
Despite the fact that estimates put the number of doctors working as corporate physicians in the thousands, these numbers still only account for about 2 percent of the doctors in the U.S. Thousands of occupational medicine physicians are in charge of not only employee health but also industrial and product safety. There are another 10,000 physicians who work part time in roles such as these. Areas that employ these corporate physicians include insurance companies as medical underwriters, drug manufacturers, insurance claims and product testing specialists.
The chief medical director's career track for a large insurance agency is not rare amongst corporate physicians. Presently recognized in private practice, he found some part-time work in a restaurant chain since it was open to him and because it was a way to earn money. What he didn't realize is how hard he would work during this part time job, performing exams on food handlers at a rate of up to 60 patients in an hour! He reluctantly gave up his medical practice when he accepted the position of medical director for two movie studios. There were even better chances for preventative medicine and an endless amount of opportunities to take up since there was no payment required from the patient.
In times past, a company doctor was seen as one who was unable to survive in private practice's competitive world. Their supposed image was a physician who gave out aspirin, applied band aids and helped people that were already healthy. Occupational and product safety laws have provided respectability and influence to the corporate physician, bringing about a change in public opinion. One medical director makes the statement that he feels like it's about time the corporate doctors received the recognition they rightfully deserve.
Young medical school graduates, faced with staggering student loans, often opt for company positions. Older, established physicians might sacrifice their bottom line, but will do so for the chance to practice medicine again. The improvement in the overall quality of life outweighs any loss of net income they have have agreed to. Occupational medicine, as these corporate positions were once called, was at one time considered undesirable and for doctors who were not able to "make it in the real world". In one doctor's opinion, many of those who did not make the switch are now envious of those who did.
Corporate physicians making the most money are those who have abandoned traditional practice. The most well-known of these highly paid corporate doctors is probably the 78-year-old multimillionaire physician who never practiced medicine. He earned his first million while still a medical student, by reviving the failing pharmaceutical firm owned by his father. Following medical school graduation, he purchased a surplus army field hospital, which he erected in the impoverished Ural Mountain area in the Soviet Union. While there, he learned that food rather than drugs were most desperately needed, and worked to import grain which led to the establishment of a network that furthered his business enterprises in the future.
by: Emma White
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