<p>No need to worry @Southerncharm95, Obamacare was only implemented this year and despite popular rhetoric, it was not the cause of private practices closing. Fortunately, our healthcare is not being socialized since Obamacare is a law and not an actual health insurance. No doctor was hired by the government as a result of this law to provide healthcare. Quite opposite, people are being forced to buy private insurance. A big win for private health insurance companies with large market share. </p>
<p>Before this thread gets hijacked by the politics of Obamacare, let me redirect this to something more productive. At some point in the past 15 years, healthcare was taken over by a concept of quality metrics, EHR and patient satisfaction scores equalling improvement of healthcare. These measures have created a nightmare for the private practices who have diligently tried to comply. These requirements have resulted in expenses that were never recovered and disruption in practices. I couldn’t imagine buying a 6 figure software, train, and convert an office to this new system while trying to maintain a practice. Many physicians and nurse practitioners couldn’t either and closed or sold their practices to hospitals and companies that have a much greater economy of scale to do this. </p>
<p>I am confident that these items will work themselves through and will be well managed by future physicians. Other countries have led the way with successful implementation of similar measures in a private market. For now, current physicians will continue to feel the brunt of the trial and errors of these initiatives.</p>