Dr. Gordon Moore was unhappy with the high volume of patients he was required to see as a staff physician in a hospital-owned medical practice--30 plus a day, each of whom only got 15 minutes of his time. Unwilling to keep that pace up, in 2001 Moore took out a $15,000 business loan and opened his own one-man practice. He's not alone. While no one has exact statistics, a growing number of doctors are following his model, building tiny but high-tech practices that allow them to work on their own terms.

Because he was battling to keep expenses low, he decided not to hire nurses, receptionist or medical billing pros. Instead, he relies largely on a mix of practice management software, e-mail, e-prescribing, e-faxing and annual patient wellness surveys conducted via the Web to sustain his practice. Thanks to such automation, and scrimping on equipment and office space, Moore calculates that overhead makes up 35 percent of his revenue, as compared with 60 percent for other small PCP practices. He's also been able to keep patient visits down to a modest 12 a day.

To find out more about this "micropractice" model:
- read this Wall Street Journal article (sub. req.)

Related Article:
Consumer-driven healthcare shifts MD tech needs. Report