Hand-in-hand with this self-created doctor shortage, it seems that more patient-care responsibilities are assigned to nurses than ever before.

My experiences with RNs, APRNs, NPs, PAs, etc. has generally been excellent. Male or female nurses seem to be more caring and also appear to not be on such a tight time-clock.

There is so much money sloshing around looking for investments that private equity funds are financializing everything they can find - farm land, veterinary practices, dormitories, nursing homes, etc.

This is unsustainable. They are sucking the life out of everyone and destroying the environment as well.

… specifically multi-location practices that were increasingly PE-backed.

The argument for both consolidation and PE was the expense of setting up and operating a practice— there’s a lot of infrastructure cost associated with dentistry (in terms of tools, equipment and materials, which honestly I hadn’t considered until I got that job). Also, no one teaches you to run a business in dental school. There’s a lot of talk about “separating the clinical from the clerical” and “freeing” practitioners up to do what they do.

THAT said, there are stories about meeting financial targets that would stand your hair on end. We have got to do healthcare better in this country and at the end of the day, PE is not a public good culture.

their main goal is not to make you healthy but to keep you sick for as long as possible. Get every last dollar out of your retirement account, insurance/Medicare, family savings, etc.

The institutions that are tasked with our very lives were acting like a business!!

Who'da thunk it?

A former Dentist of mine in Rochester, now retired, sold his practice to the Park Dental Group. I go twice a year regardless for cleanings and Xrays once every year. I go to the location where I live currently in a Southwest suburb of Minneapolis.

Looks like the Splint/Guard I have had for 12 years may need to be replaced that prevents me from grinding at night due to hairline cracks. That will set me back 4 figures at least. I have the money for that when the time comes. I am set for April for my next visit. Before that if my splint cracks even further.

That cost me $500 a couple years ago and he just last month replaced for free.i actually put a hole in the old one, in addition to cracking it. He’s going to retire soon, I think, so I’m sweating.

Now they are buying dental practices.

My GP physician told me about ten years ago that the family medical practice he was part of was in dire financial straits. It's a rural practice that experienced a perfect storm of retirements and docs moving to more urban clinics. It was one of the largest primary care offices in our rural county. My doctor had emptied out his retirement funds to keep the practice afloat. They were trying to stay above water long enough to finish negotiations with the rural (for profit) hospital to absorb them into its network of providers. He and everyone else working there ultimately became employees of the hospital, which kept that practice open. A couple years later my second cardiologist's office was likewise saved by the hospital. My first cardiologist simply closed his doors and moved away. Keeping those GP offices open can be a lifeline for rural practices already struggling in our for profit wealth care system.

I know my cardiologist was in a practice that I believe was a standalone when I first started going there and is now under its 2nd University hospital system. It is located in suburban Philly but in a rim county with both systems located in Philly.