Physician practice mergers – let the process begin

Well it looks like the process is starting...........I'm getting more and more calls and inquiries from physicians that want to merge their practices together. I think physicians, especially the smaller medical practices, are finally waking up to the reality that they can't go it alone - the business practice of medicine today has just gotten too complicated and external forces are requiring physicians to rethink their current practice situation.

With third party payer reimbursement continuing to decline (do you think it'll ever go up??) and overhead continuing to rise, how are physicians going to maintain their collective bottom lines?? Older physicians - what is your transition strategy? I again think that physicians are realizing that if they don't at least explore merger opportunities, then their future practice may not end up too promising.

So dear reader - what do you think??