Sattelites

[Doowai]

I lived in a rural town (pop.3500) 1991 to 1998. A DO had a successful practice there that he sold to a hospital for ALOT of money. They only required he stay there for X number of years so that they did not lose any patients. The real reason they bought it was to use as a satellite referel place to increase their hospital load.

Do hospitals still do this? Can one build a rural practice and then sell it to a hospital nowadays?

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[Spineman]

The answer to your question is yes. I am currently an OMS-I going into to family medicine in a small rural town about the same size as the one you just mentioned...at least that's my goal. My father is also a family practician and he did just that. He sold his practice to a large hospital based out of one of the major metropolitan cities in Oklahoma about 45 miles away from us. That worked out great for him for a few years, but eventually they got taken over by another hospital and started making it a little rougher for their docs. He finally had enough a couple of years ago when they put in their contracts, that they sent to him to sign, that if he was to quit working for them during that contract period he could no longer practice family medicine anywhere in Oklahoma until the contract was up and he would not be able to hire any of his current employees. So, the answer to your question is yes it can be done, but sometimes it is best not to mess with it. IMHO