Sometimes I’m asked what the future holds in physiatry needs. When one considers that the vast majority of physiatry residents are going into interventional fellowships, one might conclude that the market demands this service and it is being satisfied. On the other hand, we may be at a saturation point of interventional specialists. One might also conclude that the need for inpatient physiatrists is growing even though some rehab units and facilities have or are in the process of closing.
The upcoming election will have a strong impact on the future needs. With Obamacare, one might predict very large health care systems like Kaiser. Either way, the matter of economies of scale predict large physiatry health care systems and large physician groups. Everything seems to be consolidating. Some solo practitioners have called me looking for work as it’s too dificult to maintain referrals and deal with the business side of the practice.
My stance is to provide a variety of services so that you are not affected by the downturn of any particular service. Census’s vary, the ability of private payments vary, and the payment for interventional services changes so, as such, one has to be flexible and responsive to the marketplace.