From AAPP President, Dr. Marcy Zwelling:

In his article, “More Doctors Giving up Private Practice,” March 25, 2010, Gardiner Harris talks about a “quiet revolution” taking place across America that is changing the paradigm of healthcare delivery.  Indeed, for good reason, doctors are wanting to do anything but succumb to working for the government, and some are finding their answer by selling their practice to a hospital or foundation and becoming an employee.

Unfortunately, many of those doctors have found that after their “transition,” they are put in a position where their interests are conflicted with the patients they had hoped to serve.

The real revolution that is thundering across the country is the transformation back to the days of Marcus Welby where doctors serve their patients directly and privately outside the system of insurance hassle and government paperwork.

Data is emerging to demonstrate that direct practices or what has been called “the concierge practice” are providing patients with less expensive high quality care.  Contrary to some of the media, these practices have sprung up in every financial demographic from Beverly Hills to urban America.  Patients are demanding privacy that cannot happen if the doctor is trading data for stimulus dollars and the direct practice is the best opportunity for patients to find a doctor able to advocate solely for the patient while protecting the sanctity of the privileged patient-doctor relationship.