Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/620826
"AMERICA'S DOCTORS ARE facing a n epidemic." That 's the headline on the Association of Independent Physicians' website. Their statistics confirm this: In 2000, well over half (57 percent) of a ll physicians in the United States worked for themselves. Now, that number (36 percent) is closer to one in three. To ha lt this trend, six of the largest independent medica l groups in the northern ha lf of Ohio recently joined forces to form the Ohio Independent Collaborative (OIC). By doing so, they are not only preserving their independence but a lso ožering patients easier access to care, lower costs, higher clinica l qua lity and better overa ll care, according to Gar y Pinta, MD, OIC President. " We believe that independent physicians, meaning physi- cians not employed by a hospita l or corporate hea lth care, deliver a particular brand of care which needs to be preserved and protected," says Dr. Pinta. "That brand of care has a respect for the sanctity of the long-term individua lized physician/ patient relationship, which is specia l. The physicians know their patients and their particular wants and needs, and the patients know and trust their physicians. And this results in higher qua lity of care." Jennifer Hohman, MD, agrees. Her group practice, Northern Ohio Medica l Specia lists (NOMS), is an OIC member. "I think the independent physician continues to view medicine as more of a calling, following their passion to really make a dižerence in the lives of patients," she says. "In an employed setting, the business of medicine can sometimes get in the way of the close doctor/patient relationship." Robert Kent, DO, FACI, Chair of OIC, points out , "A lot of health systems do an excellent job, but sometimes they're allocating patients. By creating and building strong relationships with independent medical groups, we're able to strengthen the local medical landscape and allow patients to continue to receive great care at the same hometown o³ces and with the same hometown physicians they've relied on, sometimes for generations." TEAMING UP Currently, the OIC is comprised of more than 800 physicians in primary care and 40 dižerent specialty areas, including cardiology, general surgery, hematology/oncology, neurology, orthopedics, pathology, radiology, urology and more. The six member groups, all of which have retained their medical practice names and independence, include: + Central Ohio Primary Care. With more than 300 providers and 55 practice locations throughout central Ohio, COPC is reportedly the largest physician-owned primary care medical group in the U.S. to Remain Independent Doctors JOIN FORCES 1 4S P E C I A L F E A T U R E BY ROBERT JANEK