The mythical belief that almost 100 percent of medical school students have accepted over the last century—that one can practice medicine without the need for a business education—has contributed not only to the crisis in health care and the physician attrition crises we see today, but also to the rapid disintegration of private medical practice in our nation.
The confusion covertly introduced into medical students’ minds stems from the missing segment of the myth: “… but only if a physician can tolerate a medical practice career living on the edge of poverty.”
The chink in the armor of every medical student expecting to experience the glamorous life of independent medical practice as a highly regarded physician, overwhelmed with elite medical skills and knowledge, is purposely withheld from them by medical school education scholars for a reason.
This chink results from the fact that every medical school in the United States is either mandated by the Medical-Industrial Complex or, worse yet, controlled by a “deep state” within the medical education system itself, compelling complete silence on two critical aspects.
Printed or verbal information and any form of instruction or exposure to the enormous value and benefits of business education to all commercial small business owners (including physicians in private medical practice) remain invisible. Medical students are so preoccupied with medical education that they never recognize that they must include the one necessary element of medical practice that guarantees financial stability throughout their medical careers, whether employed or in independent medical practice.
No offer or provision of business education has been made available to medical students for the last century. We are not talking about an MBA, which is far too superficial to be of high value to private practice physicians.
All physicians in private medical practice can only be certain of surviving financially and successfully if they have learned the business tools that prevent failure.
Where does your knowledge of creating a private medical practice, effectively managing a successful practice efficiently and profitably, and knowing the marketing strategies and how to use them properly to constantly build your practice come from?
How do you avoid the many pitfalls in business that most physicians, without that business knowledge, never see soon enough to prevent financial loss in their medical practice?
I expect that previous medical students who read this information likely think they should have been told about these chinks in their armor. It certainly made me angry when I uncovered the truth.
You see, I’m one of those physicians from a top medical school with an elite medical education. I lost my specialty medical practice for financial reasons when I was at the cutting edge of my career in private practice.
At the time, I believed with all my heart that I had made no mistakes, no dumb decisions, and found no factors that would lead to that tragedy. I then staggered through several medical practice jobs over 15 years to survive financially until my retirement.
The sad part was that I never planned to quit medical practice until I became incompetent. I venture to say that the hundreds or thousands of medical doctors who have lost their practices for financial reasons in the past believed the same thing.
Being suicidal because of that loss made my medical world seem like a daydream. I had disappointed my family, my peers, my profession, my medical patients, and my usefulness. I sensed there was some other issue that was responsible. So, I swore that I would find out what that factor was. Maybe you are saying, “Well, I would have known immediately.” I seriously doubt that.
After retirement, I started my 20-year research to find the cause. In the first year, I started two businesses online for income, as my wife and I had no income, family money, or home. They failed, but I learned that I failed because I lacked business knowledge.
In the third year, while looking for business education with minimal income, I found a world expert in business and marketing, Dan S. Kennedy, Inner Circle Group. He was called a “millionaire maker.” Now, 23 years later, I still learn from him. It was here that I realized the value of business education.
I quickly understood what had caused me to lose my medical practice—I had no business education. Sure, I had very superficial business knowledge, as everyone eventually does, but that is never enough. I learned that many physicians over the last century have also lost their private medical practices, and nothing has ever been done to fix the business knowledge problem.
Medical doctors rarely admit the loss of their practices—it would be admitting their financial incompetence, which is intolerable. Instead, they camouflage the problem by moving to another area to practice—a nice, acceptable means of maintaining their integrity and dignity.
The more I learned about the hidden game we play a part in, the angrier I became. It made me feel that my importance to the medical school was nothing more than to be a front-line physician who reflects back on the medical school’s status. Then it came to me.
Medical schools are simply large businesses whose purpose is to make money. A company has no obligation to provide us with any outside training (like business education) that would boost every physician’s desire to reach their ultimate practice potential. It also expects us to donate larger amounts of money back to the school.
That medical school plan has never worked. Medical schools celebrate if, during a physician’s career, they receive donations from 10 percent of their alumni.
For some reason, I understood I had to do something about it—it was my impossible mission. Why should any physician have to suffer through what happened to me (there is a lot more of my story that I’m ashamed to talk about).
By year six of my continued research into the medical school education system, I finally understood the ultimate cause and solution to the whole series of financial problems that most physicians have learned to tolerate. It accounts for the burnout sacrifice that almost half of private practice medical doctors admit to.
The sacrifice continues with such things as unfunded retirement, working to age 80, being unable to earn enough to send the kids to good colleges, massive reduction in personal lifestyle factors, and loss of every physician’s ability to afford cutting-edge knowledge and new or updated skills for better practice results and increased value to their medical patients.
My research has proven that all of the above can be resolved by business education for all medical students—at least those preparing for private medical practice. But that leaves out those who later find that being an indentured servant to government-run health care facilities destroys their own control over their medical career destiny.
Curtis G. Graham is a physician.
