Medical school reunion notes

I recently attended a virtual medical school class of '72 reunion. This was in follow up to an onsite one that I was unable to attend so I took the opportunity to reconnect with a few classmates, most of whom I didn't know at all when I was in medical school.

Of the original class of about 210 students, 17 presented their smiling faces on the Zoom screen, some accompanied by their spouses. A second-year medical student gave an encouraging presentation on how to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing patients that has been integrated into the curriculum because of her persistent efforts.

My impressions after the one-hour event were:

1. I should have spent more time getting to know the others during school
2. Nationally, about 7% of people over age 75 are still part of the workforce. While the sample was small, about 10% of the group were still working in medicine, mostly in administrative support jobs, like overseeing an IRB remotely where one doctor previously practiced.
3. Almost half of the group were in private practice when they retired
4. Everybody had a story about 1) changing generational attitudes and behaviors, 2) the role of private equity and corporate medicine and 3) whether they would encourage their grandkids to become a doctor. The predominant sentiment was "the only reason to do it these days is if you just want to help patients". Even then, they agreed, the costs to you and your family have exceeded the rate of inflation by a longshot since they graduated.
5. One of the attendees used to refer patients to my nephew doctor who practices in the area
6. I don't think I would want to be stuck on a school sponsored alumni cruise where most everyone got COVID
7. One of the alums was a woman physician. All the rest were white men. While Black male medical students accounted for 3.1% of the national medical student body in 1978, in 2019 they accounted for just 2.9%. Without the contribution of historically Black medical schools, just?2.4%?would be Black men.
8. Most everyone agreed that the one thing they wished they had learned during school was the business of medicine
9. The majority opinion was that private practice was on life-support. I was in a lonely contrarian group of optimists who predicted a change in the trend resulting in a floor 35-40% private practice rate in the coming years using new business and operational models, like decentralized autonomous organizations built on a blockchain backbone.
10. Everyone was enjoying their lives and were grateful to have been able to practice during the "Golden Age" of medicine. I mentioned that we are in a new Golden Age, but that graduates will need a new mindset to take advantage of the opportunities.

I left the call optimistic about the future generations of doctors and the profession and felt fortunate that I still can spend time with them. According to this death calculator, having an optimistic personality and an expanding social support network will help me live a few more years so I can go to the next reunion,

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs