Younger physicians appear to prefer larger practices for the more predictable income and work-life balance they can offer.
In summary, older patients and patients visiting larger practices tended to be more demanding, especially in terms of accessibility and availability, of professional attire (for older patients) and of equipment (for patients visiting large practices), though the association decreased for the vast majority of the items in multivariate analyses.
For example, small practices achieved lower scores 71.4% than large practices 88.6% (P < 0.0001) for referral for exercise testing and specialist assessment of patients with newly diagnosed angina.
For example, the standard deviations for satisfaction on getting through on the phone were: 23.8% for small (< 2,000 patients) and 37.6% for large practices (> 10,000 patients).
But Dr. Mark L. Harrison, the radiation oncologist in McAllen, Tex., who founded Urorad and is its chief executive, said the returns could be lucrative for large practices.
For example, large practices may devote more time to training and workflow protocols that improve productivity.
Using its stock as currency, MedPartners can pay a nice premium for a large practice like Mullikin's and still see its earnings per share go up.
In theory, it would be easier for small practices than for larger practices to increase their numbers of patients.
The average number of patients registered with practices was estimated to be 5586 in October 2012 [ 5], but practice list sizes can range from several hundreds of patients to well over 20,000 for the largest practices in Scotland.
My ob-gyn (along with other doctors in her large practice) has provided care for me through cervical surgery, the birth of my two children and an abortion after my second child was born.
Barriers to EHRs include costs; lack of standardization of EHR products and the design of vendor systems for large practice environments; resistance to change; initial difficulty of system use leading to productivity reduction; and perceived accrual of benefits to society and payers rather than providers.
