A lot of the older doctors around here complain about being forced to electronic medical records. What it really does is force the doctors into group practices because the cost of electronic records can be shared across the whole practice. These older doctors just don't want to join a group - they want to keep working as a sole practitioner and doing things the way they always have done it.

But electronic medical records are valuable. If you go to an ER that shares medical records with your doctor, the ER people can see your history and the results of any tests or imaging you may have had. And when you go home, your primary care can see what was done in the ER. This also works for specialists doctors you might see who share medical records with your primary doc.

If a doc sells his/her practice to a corporation and becomes an employee they should not be surprised that they lose the autonomy they had earlier. If they join a group of doctors, they only have to answer to the other doctors in the group.

Mike