Physicians as the Sleeping Giant—Why Many Doctors Don't Push Back and Some Advice, With Benjamin Schwartz, MD, MBA

Waking the Sleeping Giant of Physicians: Why Doctors Stay Quiet and Where They Can Gain Leverage. Episode 537.

Waking up the sleeping giant that is physicians. Employers have been called the sleeping giant of healthcare for years, so if employers are sleeping giants, why not physicians? In this episode, Stacey Richter talks with Benjamin Schwartz, MD, MBA, an orthopedic surgeon who sees patients at a safety net system, works as a medical director at a musculoskeletal (MSK) company, and writes the Substack The Surgeon's Record, about why it is actually pretty tough for many docs to grab the reins and gallop off in a different direction — and the directional ways forward despite the obstacles.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why most physicians are now employed, and why without an alternative there is no leverage to fight back

✅ The real risks to an overly loud doctor: contract non-renewal, revoked or suspended privileges, and disciplinary action on a permanent record

✅ How noncompetes, rebuilding a referral base, the lost art of succession planning, med school competitiveness, and budget neutrality keep physicians fragmented

✅ How to do dyad leadership right so physician leaders keep trust with the bedside instead of being seen as the enemy

✅ Why a physician-led MSO (managed services organization) differs from an investor-backed MSO looking for an exit: the concept is neither positive nor negative, it is in the implementation

✅ Where ASC (ambulatory surgical center) ownership, direct contracting with employers, and collective action fit, plus Dr. Schwartz's simplest first step: educate yourself

WHY THIS MATTERS

Doctors are the ultimate deliverers of care, yet Stacey notes that for every physician picking up a torch, there are, like, a thousand others who don't seem to be. The reasons are structural: employment as the perceived-safe default, noncompetes, a zero-sum payment pool, and training focused on the one patient in front of you. As Stacey says, no one is coming to save us, so if anything is going to happen, it needs to be the individuals who desire change picking up a torch.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE