Trends in Physician Office Practices by Ken_Powell
Hospitals continue to increase their acquisition of physican practices. According to AHA statistics, hospitals empoy over 212,000 doctors and this number is expected to increase as both hospitals and doctors seek mutually benefical alignments. Currently, just over 55% of physicians remain independent. A recent survey revealed that 32% of first year residents prefer hospital employment and the HealthLeders Media report found that 70% of US hospitals intend to employ more physicians in the next three years.
In office lab testing continues to be a bright spot for physicians coping with decling reimbursement rates. The numbers tell the story. a 3 physician oncology practice in North Carolina produced $400,000 in revenue and a 10 physician office can be expected to bring in something in the range of $700-800,000. Someone has to run and get paid for these tests and the physicians ordering them are saying 'Why not me?". New point-of-care (POC) technologies focused on infectious disease and personalized medicine tests from several companies will continue to drive growth in this segment. The POL segment accounts for 8-9% of diagnostic total diagnostic tests.
Another physician hotspot is mobile connectivity. Those who remember doctors being paged during college football games in the 70s know that doctors were among the first to embrace mobile technology. Over 10% of hospitals and group practices provide physicians with mobile devices and tablets are growing in physician preference.
For more information on this topic, the physician office lab market and companies staged to benefit from this segment please contact me through Zintro and schedule a personalized discussion today.