Cevey Pediatrics, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
A weird thing happened to me at the end of last year … I received an unsolicited email that somehow went to the email address I only give to patients from a company in Florida. No, they weren’t trying to get me to provide bank information so that they could send me $10 million, they were offering me the “opportunity” to sell my practice to them for them to manage all the business side of private practice and allow me to “focus on being a doctor.” Before y’all freak out, let me tell you I turned them down. I did so, though, after hearing about what they specifically had to offer, and in the process, I saw that a lot of what they were offering me “freedom from” were actually things that I love about owning my own practice.
Some things that they were offering to take over, like paying for rent and internet and paying for medical and office supplies, etc., are currently inconveniences, but they don’t actually take up much of my energy because they are all set up to be paid automatically at various times throughout the month.
Other things that they were trying to sell me on actually served to sour the proposition, from my perspective at least:
A central appointment scheduling center that would be handling patient calls for my practice amidst numerous other practices?!? No way! I love how we can tweak the schedule to balance specific patient and office needs in real time. I felt like all they would care about was maximizing patients seen per day without taking into account that some issues in some patients may take more time.
Only having to take call maybe once every few weeks because call would be shared among all the local doctors in all the practices owned by this group?!? No way! This was one thing I told them from the beginning would be nonnegotiable. They thought it weird that I wanted to continue taking 24-7 call for my patients. But I love that I know all my patients, and that when parents call after hours to ask about something that’s come up, I can immediately “see” in my head who I’m talking to, and I already know that patient’s unique medical history and what has worked or not worked for them before. To have their care possibly “messed up” by another doctor who doesn’t know them as well would make me very upset!
I guess those were the two biggest things that they were trying to convince me I’d like, that in my opinion were actually features I really didn’t like. In realizing how much I enjoyed those personal connections that make private practice unique, I was also reminded of how much I love
hearing that my patients specifically tell their parents they need to “see Dr. Cevey” when they’re not feeling good, because that means I’ve earned their trust and belief in me that I will try my best to help them feel better;
seeing newborns growing into smiley squealy infants, who might grow into toddlers who have stranger anxiety and are scared of me but then grow into children who excitedly give me high-fives and tell me about their birthday party themes or Halloween costumes, and then eventually grow into young adults with dreams and goals for their lives,
reminiscing with parents about how their children have physically grown, or emotionally blossomed, or overcome serious past medical challenges, and
sharing and supporting families through times of celebrations and times of tears, including reconnecting when they’ve moved back into town or even had a little one of their own after graduating from my practice years before.
Yes, it’s a lot of work, and if something bad happens or someone gets upset I take it very personally, but all these reasons listed above make it so worth it, and make me so happy that I chose 13 years ago to go into private practice instead of just being a doctor that worked for a big clinic.
Happy Valentine’s Day (Month) to Cevey Pediatrics!
We've updated our appointments policy at Cevey Pediatrics. It is our intention to provide your children the best care possible at all times and to accommodate as many requests as is realistic and feasible. It is within this context that we ask you to take a few moments to review our new policy below:
Cevey Pediatrics Appointments Policy
