Why Independent Medical Practices Can Still Thrive: Independent Doctors Network

Podiatrist Michele McGowan reflects on how private practices across specialties are facing the same pressures—lower reimbursement, higher overhead, rising payroll and supply costs, growing administrative burden, private equity acquisitions, and hospital systems absorbing independent medicine—despite independent practices being profitable and valuable. She explains how she and her husband transformed their practice over the last four years by stepping away from low-paying insurance models, dropping certain insurances, implementing transparent cash pricing, and adding services not dependent on insurance approval, resulting in more time with patients, better outcomes, and less chaos. McGowan argues high-volume medicine harms care and shares that patients want present, unburned-out doctors who build long-term relationships. She introduces the Independent Doctors Network as a cross-specialty community to share strategies on cash services, AI/technology, sustainable operations, and practice-building resources via a webpage and Facebook group.