Empty Medical Office Building, Florissant, MO (Click to enlarge)
Any takers on this property?
Didn’t think so. 
While health care reform has benefited large health care systems, it continues to decimate small practice physicians. This portends an ominous outlook forhealth care in small-town and rural communities.From Medscape Cardiology(registration required):
One third of physicians in small group practices who responded to a recent survey expect their 2012 income to fall below what they earned last year. Financial pressures could have a devastating effect on physicians in practices of 10 or fewer participants: 26% surveyed said they might have to close their practice within the next 12 months.
“The survey was emailed in April to a random selection of 15,000 of the 200,000 physicians who are registered members of MDLinx, a medical news website, and 673 responded,” a spokesman told Medscape Medical News.
“A total of 49% of small practice physicians reported cutting staff and services to reduce operating expenses. Despite such measures, 23% said they have used personal savings, and 20% have had to borrow money to cover expenses.“By comparison, only 13% of physicians at larger practices or hospitals expected their income to drop this year.
“This poll is quite startling in the revelations about small practices, the healthcare lifelines to many communities,” said Stephen Smith, chief marketing officer for MDLinx. “Physicians have had missiles raining in on their practices at an increasing pace’the economy, regulations, paperwork, insurance, lawsuits, etc.”… “The coming retraction this survey hints at,” said Smith, “would mean longer drives to less-personal, higher-cost medical care for millions of Americans.”
By Dr. Westby G. Fisher
Dr. Westby G. Fisher is a cardiologist at NorthShore University HealthSystem who writes regularly at Dr. Wes.Visit website | More posts by Author
Perhaps Dr. Fisher is impaired. Perhaps he has not read the "Obamacare" legislation. Small practices have been disappearing for years, and the rate of consolidation has accelerated - just as consolidation has occurred at an accelerating pace in every other industry that has left the dark ages and become more sophisticated. Unless you are a small practice physician, this is a good thing. If not Obamacare, why are they consolidating? Because, after their business's grow past the stage that I will characterize as "stupid simple", physicians have no capacity to manage themselves. Physicians are sometimes smart, but not when it comes to business. Their inability to manage themselves has nothing to do with Obamacare - a program which is adding 30 million new patients to the existing healthcare system. We would all be better served if Dr. Fisher keeps his advice within the cardiology arena.