PGP CEO Michael Kroin quoted in Crain’s Chicago Business article on Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush

Physician Growth Partners CEO Michael Kroin was quoted in a Crain’s Chicago Business article about the recently-announced partnership between Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush and Rockford Orthopedic Associates. The article by Jon Asplund, titled “Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush partnering with outside clinic,” covered not only this specific deal, but also the issue of medical practice consolidation:

There are basically two routes for physicians to take when looking at how they’ll practice, said Michael Kroin, CEO and managing partner at Chicago-based Physician Growth Partners: either they are independent practitioners or hospital employees. Being a hospital employee provides a doctor with job security, infrastructure and the appropriate amount of support a doctor may need, Kroin said. “But you don’t see that entrepreneurial spirit or the feeling that you are driving the direction of the organization.”

The article also examined how, when doctors are making calculations on how to practice, they are increasingly turning to a partnership with private equity. The article ended with Kroin’s defense of this trend and its benefits to health care practices:

For orthopedic specialists, nationwide, the influence of private equity is growing, and raising alarms, Kaiser Health News reports. Kroin, whose firm represents independent physician groups in transactions with private equity, pushes back on that notion. He says that doctors are facing financial pressure on every side, including from both large insurers and large health systems, and that private equity is one way to get the capital to grow, survive and be able to compete. “What is wrong with tapping private equity? If you can structure the deal right, there’s nothing in any contract that says you have to see more patients,” he said. Like other models, Kroin said, private equity makes its money by providing the capital and infrastructure to help physicians practices and revenue grow.

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