Dude, where's my practice?

[BitterrootPAC]

Hello All:

 

So, in January, my two practice administrators showed (as expected) along with the CEO (not expected).

They all looked a bit grim, although, the CEO, not so much as the others.

 

The entire office staff, all three of us, were present, and we pretty much knew what was coming.

 

The hospital governing board had voted to close the office because it was being "under-utilized". It was later clarified that

the decision "...was not based upon financial concerns".

 

The result: patients who did utilize a family medicine/urgent care practice 40+ miles, in any direction, from any other medical

facility, seek new providers, for the long term, or until the office is reopened, possibly six months after the closure, by an organization

in a neighboring state.

 

Question: Has anyone else here had there practice close in the past four years?

 

While this closure, in one way, did me a favor, it was most definitely an upsetting episode.

I had been commuting, most weekends, for four years, a 360-mile round trip. I am not whining about this. I did like the area where I worked, and where I lived for three years before meeting my wife. I had been searching for a new practice closer to home for about three years.

 

 

So now, while I do enjoy being on "the governor's ski team" (anyone curious enough about that, feel free to contact me privately-it is probably not as cryptic as it first sounds), I look forward to finding the right fit in a practice.

 

Points from recent interviews, and near misses:

 

1. In all cases I have been asked, "How many patients do you see a day?" (Now I think of a good, but probably not entirely appropriate answer-All of them!). But not once, so far, have I been asked, "What kind of care do you give the patients? How do you treat them? or even, "what type of "customer"

service do you offer?

 

2. At least three times, after interviewing, I was later told that the practice had actually decided not to hire a new provider after all.

In one case, the practice did hire a new mid-level less than one month after I was told the decision had been made ..." to do some internal reorganization

and reconsider things next year". I had interviewed twice, In june and again in August.

 

3. In the past three months I have had three interviews scheduled, then cancelled one business day before the scheduled interview. At these times, I have wondered, "would this happen if I were being flown in from afar? Because I am right here in "their big back yard", is it seen as appropriate to cut off my shot at the job since the employeer has to invest nothing has no required investment needed to bring me in--no airline ticket, no motel, no car rental, no meals.

 

Again, I am not complaining, I am commenting.

 

If I hear the media, or others, decry the "economy is in the tank, and people cannot find jobs", I think, well, even if the big picture is as grim as they are saying, I am only one person, and I need only one job (I hope!)." I believe the economy is improving, slowly. Don't assume, from that comment, that I am a Democrat, because I ain't telling!

 

So I get up each day, and try to hammer away at the search, and tell myself, "the future lies ahead", and try to enjoy the day (now that, for the first week since mid-July, the smoke is gone, and I can see the mountains, and run up a canyon without, afterwards, sounding like a 2-pack-of Camel, or Pall Mall, filterless- a- day in the throes of a COPD exacerbation.

 

And, in closing, I look forward to seeing an ad on TV that says, "Ask your health care provider if getting off your *** is right for you!"

 

Job security? No worries!

 

Gotta run!

[ventana]

sometimes the best things in life are those that you don't count on....

 

being physically fit is a gift that just keeps on giving and makes life worth enjoying - really hard to realize how much it makes life better until you start to look back on life with out it

[d2305]

Depressing first post.