Pre-med students, for your next elective, consider bypassing the science hall and heading straight to the business school. It is increasingly likely that you will need business skills in your medical career. I learned that the hard way.
My journey in medicine likely followed the same general path as most physicians. After focusing on science in my pre-med studies, I entered medical school and became an MD. A residency in family medicine came next, followed by private practice and a move to Colorado, where I joined a large HMO practice.
A month into the job, I was asked if I would assume a leadership role as chief of my local primary care clinic. I naively accepted the challenge and suddenly found myself dealing with all the issues that go along with running a managed care practice: budgeting, recruiting staff, leading teams, managing employees, dealing with HR matters, and much more. All while maintaining a full clinical load.
I found it to be interesting and rewarding work, but it was shocking to me that my lack of readiness for these business aspects of running a practice seemed totally normal and accepted by others. Because I was a doctor? It was as if others assumed my medical degree had somehow blessed me with knowledge and experience about business and leadership as well. Guess what? It hadn’t. As a 34-year-old family physician new to practice leadership, I found myself in unfamiliar and anxiety-provoking territory.
Most young clinicians today are no better off than I was at that early point in my career. Which means they too must learn on the job when it comes to most things non-clinical---adding additional stress to their already demanding workload.
It’s a dynamic well-documented to be a leading cause of physician burn-out. According to a 2024 Medscape Report, 49 percent of physicians reported experiencing burnout and 20 percent reported feeling depressed. A 2019 paper from Annals of Internal Medicine estimated the annual cost of physician burnout to the U.S. healthcare industry at $4.6 billion, due to higher turnover and affected clinicians working reduced hours. While those numbers can be impacted by multiple variables, there should be little debate that burnout and career dissatisfaction among physicians contributes to clinician shortages, raising obstacles to patients’ access to care.
After 25 years of experience, most of it spent managing other physicians, I believe that in a majority of cases, physician burnout is caused by the non-clinical side of medicine -- the side that most of us haven’t developed the skills and tools needed to master. In today’s highly complex healthcare landscape, a physician’s clinical skills and knowledge are assumed and expected. But understanding and successfully managing through the complex business and leadership side of medicine is what will largely determine a clinician’s career satisfaction. Today’s physician is well-served to have formal training regarding business and finance, leadership and management, budget planning, revenue cycle management, communication strategies, team building, contract negotiations, regulatory compliance, risk management and more.
While many schools and residencies are just now trying to address this need, much more is needed. Most future doctors do not have the time or financial resources to pursue an MBA on top of a long, expensive medical education. Medical education curriculum reform, mentorship programs and continuing education are some of the solutions needed.
Some progress is being made. There are medical schools and residencies offering concurrent MBAs or administrative fellowships, but only a small minority of students participate. My practice, U.S. Anesthesia Partners (USAP), is addressing the gap as well. To help arm student clinicians with the business tools they need, we conduct annual Future Leaders in Anesthesia conferences—one for future anesthesiologists and one for future certified registered nurse anesthetists. We also conduct an annual leadership conference for 300 of our clinician leaders, providing an opportunity for them to develop, refine and broaden their non-clinical leadership skills. Our internal program, Leading@USAP, gives busy clinicians the ability to tap into a comprehensive curriculum of leadership content on demand.
Health systems, employers, training programs and students all have a role to play to ensure future physicians better understand the industry they are joining and become better equipped to thrive in it. A thriving physician is good for the individual, it’s good for business and the economy and -- most importantly – it’s great for patients. In order for physicians to have long, healthy careers, they must be equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate the non-clinical aspects of healthcare. And that includes learning how to run a business.
Matthew Maloney, MD, is USAP’s President of Clinical Operations and a member of the USAP Executive Leadership Team. Dr. Maloney is a Fellow, American Society of Anesthesiologists, and a Diplomat, American Board of Anesthesiology.