November 2012
| Business World Magazine | 115
essentially forces the physician to operate
under the fiscal restraint and guidelines of
the entity to which he or she serves. As such,
potential conflict can arise involving care of
patients versus care for bottom lines. This
same argument was expressed within an ar-
ticle recently published in the New England
Journal of Medicine which noted, “If hospi-
tals come to dominate ACO’s [Accountable
Care Organizations] they will accrue more
of the savings from the new delivery system
and physician’s income and status as inde-
pendent professionals will decline.”
The fact is, as Dr. Polner observes, pro-
fessional independence has already dimin-
ished with some studies indicating as much
as a 30% drop of physicians entering private
practice.
“
The time has come to redefine what
it means to be an independent primary care
physician and to revolutionize our role in the
healthcare delivery system. Even in these try-
ing times, we can retain our autonomy over
patient care, continue to own and control
our practices and create a prestigious and lu-
crative career,” affirms Dr. Polner.
To find a prescription to treat the
problem, Dr. Polner has spent the past year
developing a unique collaboration which is
posed to emerge as the largest group of pri-
mary care physicians in the State of Florida.
THE PREMIER
PRESCRIPTION
Branded as PremierMD, Polner says this
business model has been created to provide
physicians with the means to better con-
centrate on delivering quality patient care,
reduce the costs of providing that care, and
empower physicians with the means to more
fully maintain their independence.
PremierMD achieves this through its
embodiment of a 3-fold approach which in-