The EntreMD Podcast

How Physician Entrepreneurs Can Solve the Healthcare Crisis

March 11, 2024 Dr. Una Episode 409
The EntreMD Podcast
How Physician Entrepreneurs Can Solve the Healthcare Crisis
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

👉 Ready for the next step? Book a call: https://program.www.entremd.com/call 

The recent closure of 50 clinics in Florida displaced at the very least 50 thousand patients.


Now, imagine if this had happened in several states. Add one more zero, and you have half a million patients without access to primary care. 


I know that the easiest thing to do is to look the other way and say that this is not on us physicians to solve. But who else is gonna fix this? 


We, the physicians, are the ones with the answers. We are the solution. And we won’t stand by and have 50,000 people not have access to healthcare, right? 


Right! 


In this episode of EntreMD, I explore the different ways in which physician entrepreneurs are innovating and leading the way to better healthcare for all and how you can do it, too!


Tune in. 



Key Takeaways: 

  • 00:00:00 Intro
  • 00:00:41 The impact of mass clinic closures on patients 
  • 00:02:32 What the EntreMD community is doing to tackle the crisis
  • 00:07:19 Inviting you to fight for healthcare 
  • 00:10:32 Taking control of healthcare 
  • 00:14:16 Outro

—

Additional Resources:


When you are ready to work with us, here are three ways:

  • EntreMD Business School Accelerator - If you are looking to make a 180 turnaround in your business in 90 days, this is the program for you.
  • EntreMD Business School Grow - This is our year-long program with a track record of producing physician entrepreneurs who are building 6, 7 and 7+ figure businesses. They do this while building their dream lives!
  • EntreMD Business School Scale - This is our high-level mastermind for physicians who have crossed the seven figure milestone and want to build their businesses to be well oiled machines that can run without them.

To get on a call with my team to determine your next best step, go here ...

Speaker 1:

It doesn't matter what you're doing. I want you to understand that you are creating a huge change. Go for it. You may think, well, somebody else is going to. There is no, somebody else, like somebody else is doing what somebody else is supposed to do. There's a part that is as unique as your fingerprints waiting on you, hi docs. Welcome to the EntryMD podcast, where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, dr. I'm not Well, hello, hello, my friend. Welcome back to another episode of the EntryMD podcast, and this is going to be maybe one of the most important podcast episodes that I've ever done, and you'll see why in a second. So a day before this recording, I saw this article on drugstorenewscom and it talked about the Walgreens backed Village MD. So this is a group of clinics attached to the Walgreens pharmacy that you know they had decided they are closing down about 50 locations. So they said they're shutting down all their Florida clinics and they have over 50 clinics in Florida. All right, so these 50 clinics are going away, which, when you think about it, you're like okay, 50 clinics. But let's put it in perspective If those 50 clinics each have a panel of a thousand patients which is a small panel, by the way, for an insurance based clinic, if they have a thousand each, it's not just the 50 locations, it is the 50,000 patients who no longer have doctors. I want you to think about that 50,000. How many clinics is it going to take to take care of the 50,000 patients who, technically, have been displaced? Five zero thousand, okay. So when you think about that, it's I mean it's just it's staggering. When you think about it, and as I thought about it yesterday, I said well, this is the deal, though who's going to fix this? Who's going to take charge of it? Because you can say, oh, this is bad, and all of that granted, but we have 50,000 people who do not have doctors anymore. They do not have a place to go, right. And so I thought about it and I said, of course, we're the Calvary. We, the physicians, are the ones with the answers, we are the solution. We're not going to stand by and have 50,000 people not have access to healthcare. And as I thought about it, I went into the Entremd Facebook community, which, if you're not a part of us on Facebook, come join us. Okay, it's Entremd on Facebook. And I asked a question. I said if you knew for a fact that right now you are the answer to the chaos in healthcare, what would you start doing today? I'm going to read that again. If you knew for a fact that right now you're the answer to the chaos in the healthcare space, what would you do starting today? And the reason why I asked that question is it's easy to complain, it's easy to be a reporter, talk about what's going on and all of those things, but it's very important that we stop to think like, okay, but I'm part of the answer. What does this mean? What could I do? Some of sometimes it's just, you know coming to the realization that wait a minute, I am part of the solution. Like I need to do what I do, like I mean it because I am part of the solution. They are 50,000 people and I want you to think about it, because the reason why this is so staggering to me is we're talking about primary care, right, and we're talking about one state and we're already at 50,000. Imagine if this happened across 10 states and there are 50 states, right. Imagine if it happened across 10 states and it was the same numbers right At a zero. That's half a million people. This is a problem, and this is a problem that needs a solution, and this is a problem that we are in a unique place to solve, and you'll see why I say this in a second. So I asked this question and I want to read, because some of the answers were so phenomenal. One doctor says I will say my message courageously and clearly to keep creating change and show patients and other doctors there's another way. Another doctor said keep pushing through to make this new baby practice flourish, even in the hard days. And this person has been in practice for less than a year and she's doing amazing. A third doctor said I would do what I'm doing now and work to get heard in spaces where implementation can take place. Right, this doctor amazing, she's a surgeon, she has a podcast, she has a private practice, she's thriving in private practice. She said exactly what I'm doing, I'm moving in the advocacy angle to do bigger with the message. If not me, then who will? Right, and on and on. Another doctor said I'll reach more people. And this person runs a billing company. They do a fabulous job. So really, what she's doing is saving private practices. This doc said I would work harder to grow my business. I'll work harder to grow my business, right, because my business matters. Like, think about, you know, all these people who are displaced, and the more thriving private practices you have in Florida, the better for everybody, right? If there are people who've built the capacity where they're like, okay, we can solve this problem, we can add on a new location, we can bring on some other doctors because they have the business skills and they can pull it off. Guess what it translates to access to healthcare. I want you to think about it Business skills translated to access to healthcare Okay. And then another doctor talked about, you know, building a resort for healthcare workers and, you know, kind of helping them decide what they will or will not take. So this burnout thing, there can be an end to it and all of that and on and on, okay. So tons of responses, but the idea is this people coming up with, huh, more of what I will amplify what I'm doing now. I'll become a rock star at business. I will embrace advocacy. The part I hadn't seen yet is the part of embracing leadership, like leadership of organizations, leadership in the hospital spaces and politics and all of those kinds of things. Right, because the decisions of leaders affect us and if we're not there, we don't have representation and all of that. And this is important again, because we are so conditioned to believe, to believe that the only thing we can do is take care of patients. I've had people who were offered positions like come be the chief medical officer of this hospital, and they're like, oh yeah, but I, I don't have a master's in whatever, I can't possibly do it. And I'm like, what, what they can pay for said masters? Okay, there's a reason they reached out to you, but anyway, so there's business, there's advocacy, there's leadership and, of course, right, I'm going to talk about the business angle because you know, that's that's, that's really my jam, but I want you to think about it, right, the more businesses there are that are thriving, the more physician on practices that are thriving, the better it is for patients. The better it is for patients everywhere. Because if you look at a lot of organizations like the corporate side of medicine, a lot of them are going, you know, like they did these big acquisitions and they're like, yeah, we don't want to quite do that. And when they move away from the space. The void is staggering. Sometimes, when they move into a space, doctors interpret that like we can't compete, so they leave the space. And I want to invite you to fight for healthcare. Now, am I saying they're not reasons why things can happen and people shut down practices? No, that's not what I'm saying. But what I am saying is what you're doing matters. So some of you, it's private practice. You're building a profitable practice and you're building a bigger practice. Your work matters. Some of you, you are life coaches and you help doctors with burnout and all of those things. Your work matters. Some of you are career transition coaches. Guess what? Those 50 locations have physicians, right? Well, a lot of them have physicians. But now, like, how do we transition out? How do we find other spaces? Your work matters. You know, some of you, you have telemedicine practices, your crossing state lines and all of those things. Your work matters. Some of you are advocating for things. Your work matters. Okay, so the reason why I came on to record this podcast is because I want to tell you a few things. Number one your work matters. So do it like you mean it. Do it like you mean it. Understand that there's a lot at stake. There are patients having access to care. At stake there are with your work. Maybe you know like we have a doctor, big shout out Dr Lara Huckman. She is the medical matchmaker. She's an alumnus of the Entremdee Business School. She helps place doctors in private practices where they are valued, they're respected, they can create win-win situations. It's a win for the private practice owner and it's a win for the doctor because they have a beautiful workplace. She's keeping doctors in medicine. That matters. Like that work matters because now, instead of having people get so frustrated and leave, she's having them go from frustrated to getting jobs that they love. So your work matters, whatever it is you're doing, it matters and I want you to do it like you mean it, okay. So there's a time when I was a hobbyist with Entremdee because I had a private practice, had a thriving private practice. I have no need to do anything. I am doing now Like there's no. When I say no need, I'm not doing it. You know, like I have to do it, I don't have to do it, but I have to do it because I want to do it right, because of because it matters, because of the life change, because you know the healthcare space is waiting on me, like it's waiting on you, and I had, you know, two or three one-on-one clients and all of those things. But it was up to me to say you know what I'm going to do this, like I mean it. I'm going to create a business school. I'm going to help hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of doctors build profitable businesses in this container. I'm going to produce a podcast where the stuff I deliver on the podcast is more than what some people get in paid programs they're in. I'm going to write the books. I'm going to speak at events. I'm going to do all these things why? Because my work matters. Right Over the years, there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of doctors who have built beautiful businesses with such huge impacts and they've changed their lives, the doctors. They've changed their families' lives, they've changed their patients' lives, their clients' lives, and that's the ripple effect. But it all started from me realizing that my work matters and I started doing it like I meant it, and so I want to invite you. It doesn't matter what you're doing. I want you to understand that you are creating a huge change. Go for it. You may think well, somebody else is going to. There is no, somebody else, like somebody else, is doing what somebody else is supposed to do. There's a part that is as unique as your fingerprints, waiting on you, waiting on you, okay. Two, I want you to start identifying as the Calvary. We are the Calvary of the healthcare space. We can take ownership, we can take responsibility for it and we can turn it right side up. But it requires a different way of thinking, where I'm not the victim. It's not always me. I may not have answers to everything, but I can start from where I am. If you remember the post I said, what would you start doing today? So today may go like okay, I'm not going to quit all my business, I'm going to acquire some business skills. For many of you listening, you might go like you know, I'm going to do this like I mean it, so I'm going to join. I'm going to join a group of physician entrepreneurs who are learning business skills so I can learn to do this. The same way, you didn't treat your medical career like oh, I'm going to Google all the things till I get it and just ask questions randomly till I get it. I want to invite you to say okay, I'm going to do this like I mean, I'm going to learn the skills. I'm going to acquire this. I'm going to become proficient, competent. I run in a successful business. Come join us in the OutramD Business School right, outramdcom For a slash call. Okay, to talk with the team to see if that's the next best step for you. But identify as the Calvary, take ownership, start from where you are and decide. I may not know all the things, but I'm going to start from here and I'm going to go to the next and the next and the next, but I'm going to be part of the people. We're going to fix healthcare. Healthcare needs you, the healthcare space needs you, okay, and then, finally, I want you to be an ambassador. So OutramD is more than a book, more than a podcast, more than a business school. Beyond all of that, it's a movement. It's a movement of change sweeping across the physician community, which really is empowering physicians to take back control, to build these big businesses, to create financial freedom, to create time freedom and, ultimately, to turn the physician space rights, the physician community, right side up. And I want you to be an ambassador, I want you to identify as an ambassador for the OutramD movement. What does that mean? It's so simple. It means take this episode, take the link, share it with the doctors in your network. I want you to listen to this. It means you becoming an example of what is possible. So take the things you listen to on the podcast and start applying it in your business, applying it in your career, applying it with what you do. Start thinking in those terms. Right, that's really what it means and I want to invite you to do that. So take this episode, share it with the doctors in your world. Take these things, start applying them so you can become an example of what is possible. But mark my words. Mark my words. A time is coming when, when you look at the leaders in the healthcare space, you will see physicians. A time is coming when private equity backed companies get distressed, physicians will come to the rescue as an organized event. Like we got this. We're taking responsibility for these 50,000. And notice, I said a thousand per location. If it's 2,000 per location, we're already talking 100,000 people and we're like we're not going to leave them without healthcare. This is what we've done. These are initiatives. The time is coming and what is required is for us to evolve, to become the kind of people who would do that and I am inviting you to evolve. And, yes, healthcare is an interesting space, but I want you to realize that this is the best of times. It looks like a challenge, it looks like a problem, but this is the best of times. It does our job to evolve and for us to steer the ship, all right. So if you're going to do it, let me know. Take the screenshot of this episode, put it on your social media. Tag us and say I'm part of the Calvary, I'm part of the change that healthcare has been looking for. Okay, so go share this with another doc in your life and I will see you on the next episode of the Ontario Pact.

Physicians Encouraged to Make Impact
Physicians Leading Healthcare Change