Ray A. Blackwell, MD

This information would have been helpful for past contract negotiations. It may be difficult to negotiate higher salaries with organizations which base salaries on the mean market value for the region.

The mentoring information will be extremely helpful when our next colleague joins the practice. Although the on boarding has been discussed…[Read more]

How does one incorporate new partners in a practice to avoid variation? Is there an acceptable percentage of incorporating their practice pattern into the group practice time pattern or should they have to adopt to the overwhelming majority of the group practice pattern? Incorporating too much from the new partner will certainly add to variation…[Read more]

The fellowship training in thoracic surgery was a form of Theory X that I will term “individually authoritarian”. Each surgeon had a specific routine- which vessel was grafted first, where proximal anastomoses were placed on the aorta, where and how the suture was started and where it ended, how many knots were required, etc.. It was incumbent…[Read more]