Why I am not in solo primary care anymore

Via Half MD,

The economics of medicine: Solo Practice

I would note that I made FAAAAAAR less than the $170,000 a year Half suggests is necessary for decent quality of life, but that I still have med school loan payments the size of a modest mortgage payment plus a car (but that my loans are almost paid off).

My malpractice about about $10K a year; rent $5000/mo; used a billing service for 4% my receipts; salaries, benefits etc. (not mine) about $8K/mo. Our other expenses were very low relative to other primary care practices. In all, average reimbursement per patient was about $78; average cost per patient averaging 20-25/day was, TA-DA: 75-$90 a head. This varied depending on monthly volume. Like did I take a day off? Did I do a lot of procedures? Did I see a lot of patients with really good insurance thus have a higher revenue per patient?

Now, I was in a profit-sharing situation (Ha! "Profit" being a relative term.) with a hospital system. I kept a % of my collections; they ate the loss. As most hospital systems employing primary care hope, however, they make it up on xrays, CTs, labs, etc. Whether or not that is true, I know not.