For some time I have been following the tribulations of the primary care community in the lower 48... hassles, poor reimbursement, desperation even. They make the practice of medicine as most of you experience it sound truly dreadful. So, I have a for-real, honest offer.
My wife/medical partner and I are closing our primary care internal medicine practice in Fairbanks, and have taken positions on Saipan at a publicly funded hospital serving a low income community. We plan to be gone by December. What we are leaving is a practice that makes an almost embarrassing income for us, great patients, a good staff who want to keep working, optional hospital duties, no night calls, and (by our choice) no involvement with meaningful use, and no badly paying contracts. By doing so we are leaving a big hole in the IM outpatient care picture of our community. Our two PA's and we represent about 30% of the outpatient IM slots in the community that has been so kind to us.
And so we want to give it away. Free. All of it. Patients, staff, EHR, office equipment, computer hardware, software, pictures on the walls, pens in the drawers... All of it. Free. All you would need to do is agree to take good care of our patients and staff.
I actually will be surprised if anyone gives this serious thought. For all the complaining and dissatisfaction, our community recruiting experience is that very few people actually want to change their situation. I get that. It is scary. I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Saipan just having announced that I am tossing away the golden goose that has given me both fortune and pleasure for 40 years. But "To discover new lands you must first decide, for a very long time, to lose sight of the shore." If anyone out there is adventurous enough, crazy enough, or desperate enough to give this serious thought, contact me at dgrauman(at)avtox.com and respond to the challenge from my spam filter.
