Month: March 2014

BLOG: Practice lessons from naval submarines, part 1

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Living in San Diego in the shadow of America’s nuclear navy, I once had the privilege of touring a real, live submarine, courtesy of an admiral friend. In 60 minutes, I learned more about the value of staff cross-training than I had learned in all the previous years as a practice consultant. I also picked up lots of other management pearls. I’d like to share a few of these insights with you. Virtually all members of a 135-man submarine crew (U.S. submarines are essentially all-male) are interchangeable, with the exception (Read more...)

Dept. of Justice scrutiny of physician-owned distributorships: Implications for physician investors

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In a development that many predicted, federal authorities recently initiated what is likely to be the first of many investigations into a physician-owned distributorship (POD). PODs sell devices for use in procedures at hospitals and ASCs, and many focus on implantable devices, including orthopedic and cardiac devices. A POD’s physician-owners or investors typically perform procedures using devices sold by the POD to a limited number of hospitals or surgical facilities. The medical community has seen a rapid growth in PODs during the past several years, and these entities are reportedly (Read more...)