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Minimalism is a design and lifestyle philosophy that emphasizes simplicity, functionality, and the use of minimal elements to create a visually appealing and functional space. It is characterized by a pared-down aesthetic that focuses on clean lines, neutral colors, and the elimination of unnecessary elements.
Minimalism also refers to a lifestyle that promotes a simpler way of living, focusing on reducing clutter, prioritizing experiences over material possessions, and simplifying one’s daily routine. The goal is to live with less and to focus on what is truly essential, allowing for greater clarity, focus, and a sense of calm.
In essence, minimalism is about stripping away the excess in order to create a more intentional and meaningful way of living. It encourages us to reevaluate our priorities, eliminate distractions, and focus on what truly matters in our lives.
The Influence of Minimalism on the Mindset of Doctors
There are a lot of social, psychological, and economic forces that led to the massive shift from doctors going into private practice to doctors choosing employment. Minimizing financial risks and minimizing the complexity of managing a medical practice are very important mindsets that influence doctors’ decisions about how they will choose to practice medicine.
Thus choosing employment with its financial incentives for loan repayment and where you receive a predictable paycheck based on your autonomously driven productivity cadence makes perfect sense. No business to manage, no employees to oversee, no medical office to pay off, and no group practice/shareholders to wring your hands over.
You show up to work, do your job, collect a paycheck then get full control over organizing your non-work lifestyle.
Employment checks all the minimalist boxes.
It’s why I chose this route many years ago.
The Ugly Underbelly of Employment
But as I discovered, and as many of have also experienced, there are serious consequences to the traditional employment path and it’s not as calming as you had hoped for.
Employment essentially means the corporation that you work for has control over you. Professionals like doctors need and thrive on autonomy. When your autonomy is gradually eroded by the constraints of corporate policies, procedures, and processes—it negatively affects your well-being. Your job becomes a grind, and when your employer begins to “crack the whip” to make you go faster, work harder, and “not be a low performer”—you begin to feel the pressure all the more. They explain to you there are financial incentives within your compensation formula for working harder, doing more, and meeting the quality metrics—thus working harder for them—ultimately benefits you.
In the end, you will begin to see that you are a business asset that have invested in, like a piece of medical equipment. They will see you impersonally in this light, and their focus is to get the best ROI possible on that investment. Thus running the “business machine” a little longer, faster, and harder just makes sense—cause it leads to more revenue for them.
This is where your light bulb goes off. Indeed you are a mini-business and it’s why the large corporation chose to employ you in the first place. Their upfront investment in you to pay off your loans was like purchasing a piece of small business equipment. Your professional services generate three-fold revenue for their enterprise:
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Direct patient care
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Downstream system revenue for your indirect care
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Minable data in the EHR
As time goes on, they will hold you accountable as to why your direct patient care in your clinical setting is “losing so much money”. Never mind it’s because they have translocated your cost center into an accountant’s shuffling of the cards to the downstream enterprise. Thus you will always “lose money” at your clinical space—it’s just a matter of how much. And they will remind you that “just seeing one more patient/day” will help reduce their losses.
And then they will ask you to do “just a few more clicks of the mouse” on each patient so that “you get credit for the quality data”. Never mind that an increasing proportion of your time is spent doing this mind-numbing computer work that distances you even further from the actual patient. Coming back to point number one, the extra time to do this will make it more difficult to see more patients, making you horribly inefficient. They won’t be able to “staff you up” to support this EHR clerical work, nor to help your clinical efficiency—because they are losing too much money in the clinic—and this extra expense does not fit in the budget.
Suddenly you will feel trapped and drowning in their revenue-creating matrix, feeling the pressure to earn their deep investment in you—all while feeling less valued personally by them.
Then there is the lifestyle that you have created around this job, location, compensation, and family life. These will all additively make it increasingly difficult to make any job changes. You will feel stuck and hopeless—searching for resiliency interventions that allow you to more easily tolerate a job that makes you feel unappreciated and unloved.
So you will find that your efforts to embrace the minimalist architecture of the modern physician’s life come at an expense
You Have Options
Before you dutifully enroll in your employer’s physician wellness program and start doing your yoga and mindfulness training that is aimed at normalizing the pain of working as an employee. Please know that you have other options.
Employment Lite
Employment lite is the minimalist version of employment. You operate an individual professional micro-corporation. You then contract your services to your employer as a long-term independent contractor via what is called a PSA. This is called “employment lite” and is becoming increasingly popular among both doctors and employers.
As a contractor, your expenses don’t involve a building, employees, and medical equipment. Think of this like a version of a minimalist doctor who still interfaces with the traditional medical system—but does it efficiently with little overhead.
This is the route that I took professionally and it has been the best decision I ever made. I chronicle it in my book “Doctor Incorporated: Stop The Insanity of Traditional Employment and Preserve Your Professional Autonomy”. Grab a copy on Amazon, or can learn more about employment lite at SimpliMD where they help doctors with this process
Of course, the ultimate minimalist doctor will set up a professional micro-corporation and then use their skills to provide direct patient care—completely bypassing 3rd parties—while doing it in a virtual office space.
The Micro Medical Practice Option
This space is part of a growing network of primary care and specialty doctors who have “gone off the grid” and provide care directly to patients based on a cash-fee schedule.
If you imagine a virtual professional micro-corporation on one end of the spectrum as a minimalist medical practice—basically using their contracted employer’s space, equipment, and employees—and all professional business expenses are personal to your provision of professional services.
Then imagine on the other end of the spectrum, a full-service private practice clinic whose business expenses include retail space-building, employees, equipment, management, etc.
Doctors who choose “off the grid” direct care medical practices can land anywhere between these two ends of the spectrum—from virtual practice to fully present in a singular location.
There are lots of options here—from a mobile medical clinic—with your vehicle outfitted to basically having a mobile clinic that allows you to do both virtual, at-home car, or parked in a public parking lot somewhere—allowing patients to come to you. It’s kinda like the “food truck” idea applied to medicine. Low overhead, and high mobility/visibility.
Some doctors don’t want the everyday costs of leasing/owning a building for clinical space, thus they will cooperatively lease a medical space for “x” % of use per month. Depending on the type of clinical work you do, this allows you to comfortably have a location to examine and do medical care that is specific to your specialty (including available medical equipment) at a much lower expense.
As a minimalist doctor, you can operate your medical practice efficiently by following these tips:
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Keep it simple: Simplify your practice by minimizing unnecessary paperwork and adopting a streamlined approach to patient care. You can use technology to automate administrative tasks and focus on patient care.
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Reduce overhead costs: Keep your overhead costs low by sharing office space, using cloud-based software, and buying used medical equipment. This will allow you to focus on providing high-quality patient care without breaking the bank.
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Outsource non-medical tasks: Consider outsourcing non-medical tasks, such as billing and accounting, to third-party companies that specialize in those areas. This will allow you to focus on patient care while leaving the administrative tasks to the experts.
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Maximize patient education: Focus on educating your patients about their health and preventive care. This can help reduce the need for expensive medical interventions and keep your practice running efficiently.
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Use telemedicine: Consider incorporating telemedicine into your practice to provide remote consultations and follow-up care. This can save time and money for both you and your patients and can be especially useful for patients who have difficulty traveling to your office.
The Minimalist Doctor demonstrates that minimalism extends beyond decluttering physical spaces; it is a powerful philosophy that can revolutionize the way healthcare professionals thrive in their personal and professional lives. By simplifying work-life balance, streamlining medical practices, and adopting mindful patient care, they find purpose, satisfaction, and fulfillment in an increasingly complex world. Through minimalism, The Minimalist Doctor is not only a healer but also an advocate for a more conscious, purposeful, and sustainable approach to life and medicine.
Check out our membership resources at SimpliMD that help empower you to thrive as an autonomous minimalist physician.
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