CASE
Combining
Assets
and
Activities
The
community
of
Tampa,
Florida,
has
a
diverse
population,
with
healthcare
being
provided
to
persons
with
low
incomes,
extremely
wealthy
individuals,
and
a
strong
middle
class.
Three
well-established
physicians—an
obstetrician,
a
gynecologist,
and
a
urology
specialist—decided
that
they
should
combine
their
practices
into
a
unique
new
organization.
They
believed
that
numerous
patients
would
be
attracted
to
these
separate,
but
interrelated,
medical
practices.
The
three
physicians
worked
together
to
create
a
plan.
They
decided
that
each
physician
would
have
privileges,
or
authority
to
practice,
in
more
than
one
organization.
Beyond
their
individual
practices,
the
doctors
would
perform
surgeries
and
provide
additional
medical
care
in
several
local
area
hospitals.
In
the
new
practice,
their
days
would
be
divided
into
times
in
which
they
tend
to
routine
examinations,
to
patients
with
medical
problems
that
are
not
emergencies,
to
making
rounds
at
the
hospital
to
check
up
on
patients,
and
to
conducting
other
medical
care.
The
new
organization
would
be
housed
in
a
major
medical
building.
A
support
staff,
consisting
of
those
who
could
help
with
patient
scheduling,
insurance
claims,
billing,
and
other
office
duties,
would
be
combined
with
three
full-time
nursing
assistants.
The
physicians
chose
one
individual
for
the
role
of
office
manager
to
oversee
all
of
the
support
activities.
The
obstetrician
also
employed
a
clinical
nurse
practitioner
with
responsibilities
that
would
be
more
medically
complex
than
those
usually
associated
with
nursing.
The
obstetrician
found
the
practitioner's
help
particularly
useful
to
her
practice.
The
new
organization
intended
to
hire
one
more
person
to
serve
as
a
liaison
to
the
hospitals
that
the
physicians
attended,
with
the
goal
of
ensuring
smooth
coordination
between
the
newly
formed
organization
and
the
hospitals.
The
new
person
would
be
in
charge
of
resolving
any
disputes
or
disagreements.
This
new
organization,
which
had
yet
to
determine
its
name,
would
be
a
partnership.
The
three
physicians
would
share
authority
and
the
direction
of
the
medical
practice.
Decisions
about
difficult
issues,
such
as
adding
a
new
form
of
care
or
bringing
in
an
additional
partner,
would
be
made
by
majority
rule,
or
agreement
by
two
of
the
three
doctors.
The
three
physicians
agreed
that
they
should
eventually
grow
to
the
point
at
which
each
had
a
second
specialist
in
his
or
her
area,
which
would
expand
the
organization
to
six
doctors.
They
believed
the
benefit
of
such
growth
would
be
having
a
person
to
answer
calls
when
another
specia.
