Venture Capital in Medicine

Today a physician mentor told me a story of some local oncologists who recently had their practice turned upside down by venture capital. It was formerly a private practice group of three physicians. One physician owned the practice. The other two physicians were employed. The owner decided to retire and rather than selling to his employees, he sold the practice to a venture capital firm. The VC firm owner is a businessperson and not a physician. The VC investor's goal was to make as much money as possible from the practice. So the VC firm shortened all the appointment slots and introduced untenable "production goals" for the employee physicians, requiring them to see a certain large number of patients per day. These are cancer patients, some on treatment and experiencing complications. The thought of such appointments being cut short for the sake of profit broke my heart. The thought of two well-meaning physicians being forced to cut corners to make money for the VC owner broke my heart, too. This is what's wrong and tragic about VC ownership of medical practices. We should all be worried about achieving optimal health for our patients and our healthcare workforce, not making a buck.

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