Q: Can you share a story that illustrates the value of physician partnership?
SP: As a reservist and first-year partner, I figured it would take me a few years to move into a leadership position. But my first medical director really valued my work ethic and experience and championed my advancement. As a result, I was promoted to medical director after just three months with the Partnership. Vituity offers many opportunities for accelerated leadership development
You don’t see true meritocracy very often in healthcare. But as owners with skin in the game, we always want the best person for the job regardless of educational pedigree or seniority. I believe this allows us to attract a higher caliber of clinicians. High performers want to be with an organization that celebrates high performance.
PM: A few years ago, a regional health system bought my first hospital. At the time, 75 Vituity Partners were working in emergency medicine, hospital medicine, and critical care. The hospital wanted to cancel its physician group contracts and make us employees again. We stood together—each of us making the individual choice to stand with our Partners—and told them we would all walk if it came to that. They wouldn’t budge.
I was a hospitalist medical director at the time and walking into the CEO’s office to give our resignation was one of the most nerve-wracking yet powerful moments of my life. Happily, all three service lines were able to negotiate a better contract with a local competitor. In the end, 73 of our 75 Partners moved to the new health system, which has been an incredible client and collaborator for us. For me, it was a huge testament to the power of ownership.
Q: In your experience, what are the biggest benefits of joining a large multispecialty physician partnership like Vituity?
PM: Vituity really is the best of both worlds: local autonomy with the backing of a national organization and infrastructure. Right now, a lot of independent hospitalist groups struggle with costs, payer negotiations, and administrative burdens. Vituity takes all of that off our plate. They support us with billing, education, IT, recruiting, and everything else behind the scenes so we can focus on our real passion: medicine.
SP: One advantage of working for a large and diverse organization is the opportunity to develop and share great ideas that enhance acute care delivery. Vituity explicitly recognizes that front-line physicians are its greatest innovation assets. Many of our signature practices, like Rapid Medical Evaluation® and Emergency Psychiatric Intervention (EPI)a, were developed by a single physician or team and shared across the Partnership. Whether in clinical care, business practices, or management, we tap into human capital in a very effective way.
Working for Vituity allows me to be part of an innovative organization that understands that healthcare is fundamentally about people. It’s all about engaging the best talent available to help our patients live healthier and happier lives. And as an owner, the benefits of that come back to me personally and not to a separate group of investors.