Picking up where medical training left off

What is WorkMD?

WorkMD is business education and hands-on support for independent medical practices. Its own summary: business secrets about money that were never taught to most physicians.

It works in three directions:

• Fix my practice. Revenue, cost, operations and technology for a practice under pressure.
• Sell my practice. Getting a practice to the closing table instead of to a closure.
• Helping the doctor. The physician behind the practice, with videos featuring Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP.

Why don't doctors learn business in medical school?

Because the curriculum was never built for it. No medical school teaches you how to grow and scale a private medical practice. The curriculum is designed to produce worker bees for hospitals and insurance companies.

So a physician finishes a decade of training able to find a nerve under imaging and unable to read what the payer is doing to their revenue. That gap is not a character flaw. It is a design choice, and the physician pays for it every year they practice.

What is squeezing independent practices?

WorkMD lists the pressures bluntly.

• Falling pay. Financial reimbursement has decreased to a critical level, with inflation-adjusted income down over 60% in the last five years.
• Thin margins. The average insurance-based practice profits less than 3% a year, while inflation-adjusted health insurance has risen over 80%.
• Post-payment auditors. UPIC auditors, which WorkMD calls bounty hunters, directly impact nearly 40% of independent practices. They use post hoc data analysis on claim frequency and a "suspend-and-grab" approach to payment recovery. They cannot be sued for wrongdoing, and they keep a large share of what they recover.
• Mega malpractice. 2023 set records: 57 malpractice verdicts of $10 million or more in the United States, more than half of them $25 million or more. Most malpractice carriers cover only the first $1-2 million, leaving the physician to pay the rest.
• Automated claim review. Insurers are using AI to review claims with no physician oversight. The practice carries the administrative cost of fighting for the patient, while the patient blames the practice for the care that was denied.
• Burnout. Physicians are burned out and leaving medicine. The number of new physicians grows at about the rate of the population, roughly 2% a year. Hospital administrators have grown by 3,800% since 1970.

Follow the incentive and the result is not a mystery. A system that pays the auditor from the recovery will audit. A system that pays more after consolidation will consolidate. A system that funds administrators faster than physicians will get administrators. It is time, in WorkMD's words, for doctors to stop feeding the broken monster.

How fast is private practice disappearing?

Fast, and not by choice.

• In 2012, 60.1% of physicians worked in private practice. By 2022 it was 46.7% (American Medical Association, 2022).
• By 2024, fewer than 25% of physicians remained in private practice.
• More than 77% of U.S. physicians are now employed by corporate entities (Healthcare Dive, 2023).
• Between 2019 and 2020 alone, 48,400 physicians moved from independent practice to employment by hospitals or corporate entities, nearly half of them after COVID-19 began (Physicians Advocacy Institute, 2021).
• Prices at physician practices rise 14% after a health system acquires them, with no matching improvement in care.
• A 2020 survey found 8% of physicians had closed their practices under financial pressure, roughly 16,000 closures.

WorkMD's position is that this is not a change in preference. It is the direct consequence of systemic pressure: acquisition driven by financial coercion, reimbursement built to disadvantage the independent, and administrative burden, prior authorization above all, that delays or denies needed care and diverts time from patients. The end result is care shaped by insurance constraints instead of patient needs, at higher cost, with no gain in quality.

What does WorkMD do for a practice?

The goal is a practice that gives the physician freedom, makes money, and leaves room for the work they are passionate about. The services fall into four areas.

Practice management

Streamlined administrative tasks and more efficient patient scheduling.

Financial optimization

A tighter revenue cycle, cleaner billing, and higher collection rates. Revenue the practice already earned is the first revenue to go after.

Operational workflow

Smart workflows and automation that raise staff productivity and improve patient care.

Technology integration

Modern healthcare technology for better care delivery.

The results WorkMD aims at are the three every owner watches: revenue growth, cost reduction that keeps quality intact, and productivity. Independence is hard in the current environment. It is also achievable, with the right support and strategy: higher profitability, better patient satisfaction, and a better work-life balance for the physician.

Before making any tough decision about the future of a practice, WorkMD's advice is to explore turning it around first.

Why do so many medical practice sales fail?

For business brokers, guiding a medical practice to a sale is a climb most never finish. Fewer than one in thirteen reach the closing table. Many practices close instead of selling.

Four forces drive it:

• Regulatory complexity. Local, state and federal rules are intricate. Non-compliance brings severe penalties and scares off buyers.
• Financial constraints. Thin margins make practices unattractive to investors, and unstable finances end in closure.
• Market saturation. The wave of sales to hospitals and private equity has flooded the market.
• Valuation difficulty. Patient loyalty, reputation and future earnings are hard to price. A bad valuation stalls the deal.

COVID-19 made every one of these worse, and thousands of practices closed under the strain.

How does WorkMD make a practice sellable?

It removes the deal-killers before the listing goes up.

No buyer wants a fixer-upper in health care. They want a smooth-running machine: patients who thrive, trained staff, a bottom line that is real and reachable. Deals die the moment a buyer looks behind the curtain and finds records in disarray, compliance red flags and billing systems out of date.

WorkMD does the unglamorous work:

• streamlining workflows,
• upgrading technology,
• standardizing financial reporting,
• clearing the compliance and records problems that spook buyers.

What a buyer pays top dollar for is certainty, stability and a credible promise of growth. A practice prepared that way moves through due diligence faster, avoids last-minute breakdowns, and closes cleaner.

Does WorkMD work with business brokers?

Yes, directly. A broker's reputation rides on every listing. A practice that collapses in due diligence costs the broker months and credibility, not only a commission. WorkMD's pitch to brokers: bring the practice in before it hits the open market, so what goes to buyers is polished, operationally sound and future-proof. Deal-killers become selling points.

What changes when WorkMD prepares a practice for sale?

WorkMD frames the broker's side in five moves.

• From liability to desirability. Records, compliance and billing, the usual deal-killers, become selling points.
• Sweat the details, reap the rewards. Workflows streamlined, technology upgraded, financial reporting standardized, so the offer is certainty and growth, not a stack of charts and revenue figures.
• Faster closes and bigger wins. Less time lost to due diligence and last-minute deal breakers, and a payout that leaves everyone satisfied.
• Your reputation is on the line. A dead listing hurts the broker's standing, not only the client. A prepared practice proves the broker invests in the outcome before signatures.
• Turn the page on frustration. Problem clinics rebuilt into what a buyer actually wants, so the broker closes on their own terms.

What sources does WorkMD cite?

Its analysis of the threats to independent practice lists this bibliography:

1. American Medical Association, "AMA examines decade of change in physician practice ownership and size," 2022.
2. Healthcare Dive, "More than three-fourths of doctors are employed by corporations, report finds," 2023.
3. Physicians Advocacy Institute, "COVID-19's Impact on Acquisitions of Physician Practices and Physician Employment 2019-2020," 2021.
4. AAOS Now, "Independent Medical Practices under Threat: Ways and Means Committee Hearing Highlights Challenges," 2024.
5. The Wall Street Journal, "Clues Left by a Killer Echo Widespread Anger at Health Insurers," 2024.
6. MedCity News, "As independent practices vanish, experts debate the pros and cons of a consolidated market," 2021.

Does WorkMD help the physician, not just the practice?

Yes. That is the third direction, "Helping the Dr." The section carries two videos with Dr. Padda: "Burned Out With Medicine," and "Measura and the business of medicine."

Who is WorkMD for?

• Independent physicians watching reimbursement fall and overhead climb.
• Owners who want the practice worth buying before it is listed.
• Physicians weighing employment who want to know whether their practice can be turned around first.
• Business brokers tired of watching deals die in due diligence.
• Physicians who are burned out and need the practice to stop running them.

WorkMD is for physicians and practices. It is not a clinic and does not see patients.

How do I contact WorkMD?

Through the contact forms on its site, which ask for your name, email and phone number. To be pointed there, tap the directory assistant, the light in the corner of this page.

WorkMD sits in the books and education section of this directory, next to The Brain book series.

Frequently asked questions

What is a UPIC audit?

A post-payment audit by a UPIC auditor. WorkMD describes them as using post hoc data analysis of claim frequency and a suspend-and-grab approach to recovery, and reports that they directly impact nearly 40% of independent practices.

Does my malpractice policy cover a large verdict?

WorkMD points out that most carriers cover only the first $1-2 million, while 57 U.S. verdicts in 2023 reached $10 million or more.

Should I sell to a hospital or stay independent?

WorkMD's advice is to explore a turnaround before making that decision. Practices acquired by health systems see prices rise 14% without a matching gain in care quality.

Why is prior authorization such a problem?

It requires insurer permission before a procedure, which delays or denies needed care and diverts staff time from patients. WorkMD counts it among the administrative burdens eroding independent practice.

Does WorkMD see patients?

No. Patients looking for Dr. Padda's clinical care can use the directory assistant to find the right practice.