EP416: Why Should Med Schools Teach the Business of Medicine? With Adam Brown, MD, MBA

Ten years and $200,000 to $300,000 in real dollars — that's roughly what it costs to become a physician, and yet most medical schools teach almost nothing about how the business of medicine actually works. In this episode, Stacey Richter talks with Adam Brown, MD, MBA, a board-certified ER physician and founder of ABIG Health, about his MedPage Today article making the case that medical schools are doing their students a disservice by leaving business education out of the curriculum — and about what that gap costs physicians, patients, and the system once those students become practicing doctors.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Adam Brown's five reasons medical schools should teach the business of medicine: the changed role of physicians, the expectation mismatch new doctors face, the need to advocate effectively, the reality that prescribing decisions drive costs patients and employers ultimately bear, and the alternative career paths physicians often don't know exist

✅ Why physicians who don't understand the business of medicine struggle to earn seats in boardrooms — and why so few doctors sit on the boards of major nonprofit hospitals as a result

✅ Why patients who fear they can't afford care skip doctors' orders, and why that's a business-of-medicine blind spot with direct clinical consequences, not just a billing issue

✅ Why moral injury and staff turnover are real organizational costs of leaving physicians out of business decisions — and why successful value-based care specifically depends on physicians understanding the business model underneath it

✅ What physician-administrators actually experience when they try to advocate with their "physician hat" on inside organizations built around administrator-determined goals

WHY THIS MATTERS

Too few mission-driven, business-savvy physicians in boardrooms means patients keep getting the kind of care — and the prices — the current system produces. Adam Brown's case isn't that doctors need an MBA; it's that basic business literacy is what lets physicians advocate for themselves, their colleagues, and their patients in terms decision-makers actually respond to. Without it, docs get squeezed out of the rooms where the rules get written, and value-based care efforts that depend on physician buy-in keep stalling for the same underlying reason.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

EP404 with Suhas Gondi, MD, MBA: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Other Apps

LinkedIn post: Denver Sallee, MD, MMM's predictive scheduling work

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

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00:00 Introduction.

08:49 What does it mean to teach the business of medicine?

11:04 The four Ps that are key within the business of medicine.

13:27 Why is it important for doctors to understand the business of medicine?

21:46 "Things don't happen without a physician's signature."

27:27 Why physicians who understand the business side of medicine can broaden the view of outcomes for the business decision-makers.

28:30 Why is it important to make sure physicians are in the boardroom?

30:52 "We are getting what we designed."

33:37 Dr. Brown's advice for clinicians in the boardroom.