A new kind of clinician is emerging in America. One whose practice is smaller, higher-tech, and more under the control of the physician than health plans. The Washington Post explains:
The waiting room of Ramona Seidel's family medicine practice is empty, and she works hard to keep it that way.
After several years in a traditional suburban group practice that blended pediatrics and family medicine, Seidel quit to start her own micro-practice in Annapolis: a low-overhead, high-tech office that gives her more control over how she treats patients and more time to spend with them. She's happier. Her patients are happier. And she's pretty convinced they are healthier having a physician who knows them well.
The micro-practice model is being advocated for by the Institute for Health Improvement, which states that a successful micro-practice will "(1) have as its primary purpose a focus on the patient—a commitment to meet all patient needs; (2) make fundamental to its work the study, measurement, and improvement of care—a commitment to process improvement; and (3) routinely measure its patterns of performance, 'feed back' the data, and make changes based on the data."
There are clear upsides for the patient and the physician with this model. But with a shrinking supply of primary care physicians it may not take off as quickly as some would like. Still, it's a move in the more compassionate direction.
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