Physicians spend years in education and medical training sharpening their clinical skills and knowledge, while learning to foster connections with patients.
However, for many young and ambitious physicians, the transition into full-time practice brings them face-to-face with a whole new area of study to master: business.
“One of the things I wish I had learned more of in medical school is the business aspect [of medicine],” Brandon Ortega, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Long Beach (Calif.) Lakewood Orthopaedic Institute, told Becker’s. “It’s like jumping in the deep end, so to speak, where no one really prepares us for anything as far as contract negotiation or contract review, or understanding how the billing side of medicine works, how the hospital makes money, how ASCs make money.”
For Dr. Ortega, who completed his medical training at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and his fellowship at the University of California, Davis, fostering relationships with mentors has been key to developing his business savvy as a practitioner.
“I’ve had a very strong network of mentors, both at USC and at Davis, that I was able to rely on, to lean on to get insight and to know how to start these sorts of talks with [the industry], the hospital, with ASC leadership,” he said. “It’s been a learn-on-the-apply kind of situation for me. I think that’s the case for a lot of surgeons.”
Dr. Ortega’s mentors were able to give him advice on his first employment contracts and help him understand the legal and business jargon involved in the hiring process. However, connecting with mentors and finding the resources to learn more about the non-clinical aspects of medicine becomes more difficult depending on the type of health system a physician practices in.
“Being in private practice, I think it’s a little bit harder because, we’re not in a big academic center,” Dr. Ortega said. He said that having the support of his mentors was also vital when he first started practicing as a young physician, eager to take on more complicated or high-acuity cases that might require discussions about cost and reimbursement with a system’s C-suite.
“People don’t realize that they don’t have the leverage that they think they have,” he said. “Because we’re really new, and no one knows what your potential is. It’s only when you start creating value for your practice or your hospital that you get more leverage.”
With the guidance of his mentors and their resources, for example, Dr. Ortega was able to spearhead a project to help acquire technology that will allow him and other surgeons to perform more safe and advanced procedures. This required a level of confidence with business terminology and concepts that many physicians do not learn from medical school alone.
“In order to be successful, you have to be part of these conversations,” he said.
“And, unfortunately, for a lot of us, we’re just not part of those conversations — for [various] reasons. But one of the big reasons is that we don’t even understand the language.”
In addition to the mentorship he has received, Dr. Ortega is also considering an executive MBA program for healthcare leaders. In the meantime, he encourages other young physicians to ask questions and communicate to leadership that they are interested in getting more involved in conversations about the business behind their clinical practice.
“A lot of people feel like it’s a black box where things just magically happen and they’re kind of kept down the loop,” he said. “But thankfully for me, I’ve been able to gain a glimpse of what those decisions are and how they’re made.”