USA Today Feature with Open Source MD

On July 26, 2023, USA Today spoke with Dr. David Rosen, founder of Open Source MD, to discuss the staffing shortages healthcare institutions are facing in the wake of COVID-19. OSMD aims to address this challenging scenario by establishing a liberated market system tailored for hospitals and physicians, enabling them to form collaborative partnerships devoid of the burdensome costs and interference from external entities. OSMD provides hospitals with a consortium of physicians who operate as autonomous contractors. Rather than imposing significant fees on hospitals, OSMD necessitates hospitals to ensure equitable remuneration and commit to extended contractual terms for these physicians. Through the utilization of autonomous contractors, hospitals gain the flexibility to adjust their physician workforce according to fluctuations in patient numbers throughout different seasons. According to Dr. Rosen, this approach presents a sustainable solution for maintaining the inpatient service staffing on a continual basis, with the agreements between hospitals and OSMD typically spanning a duration of five years or more.

Excerpt of the article:

The shortage of physicians has led many hospitals to hire management companies to oversee their physician staffing function. However, Dr. David Rosen, co-founder and president of Open Source MD (OSMD), says that these management companies often do a poor job in managing the inpatient service, with many hospitals bringing in temp doctors through expensive agencies due to inefficiencies in the service and not being able to find enough doctors in the area.

Rosen says recruitment issues may be caused by the hospital’s location, especially in rural areas, as well as seasonal variations in patient volumes, which are typically higher in winter and spring than in summer or fall.

OSMD seeks to remedy this challenging situation by creating a free-market system for hospitals and physicians, allowing them to partner with one another, without the high costs and interference of third-party companies. OSMD supplies hospitals with a group of physicians who work as independent contractors. It does not charge substantial fees to the hospitals, but the hospital must guarantee fair wages and a long term contract for the physicians. By utilizing independent contractors, hospitals can flex their physician workforce based on seasonality of patient volumes. Rosen says this is a permanent way to staff the inpatient service, with contracts between hospitals and OSMD typically lasting five years or more.

Read the full article here.