> Independents (a majority of physicians)... Is this still true? It seems like the days of the independent physician are drawing to a close. Many independent

> Independents (a majority of physicians)... Is this still true? It seems like the days of the independent physician are drawing to a close. Many independent practices have become physician groups which in turn have been bought by hospitals. (Perhaps specialists are still largely independent, but general outpatient medicine seems to have become largely corporate.) Many physicians I know have a boss, and have to meet metrics about how many patients they see ever year in order to get their incentive bonus. Physicians who work for hospitals are viewed as "loss leaders", and find their appointment times squeezed to twenty, fifteen, or even twelve minutes per patient. (The idea is that for every n visits, a patient will be referred to a profitable service provided by the hospital.)