A job-share model for the new millennium.

tice ensures comprehensive and continuous patient care, but in reality, many family physicians are now limiting their hours and restricting their practices to the office setting. They’ve relinquished hospital, nursing home and home care services for valid and complex reasons, including the need to protect their personal lives. In some cases, the result has fragmented care, stressed the doctor-patient relationship and placed heavy productivity demands on physicians, who must provide a high number of office visits to meet the high overhead costs typically associated with family practice. Family physicians who want to provide comprehensive patient care without having to sacrifice their personal lives would do well to consider job sharing as an alternative to the traditional practice model. Our experience sharing positions with others in academic and private practice settings helped us to develop a job-share model that provides patients with an unbroken “circle of care,” encompassing the office, hospital, nursing home and patient’s home. The model also contributes to the practice’s bottom line by generating up to 50 percent of practice income from services provided away from the office, which reduces costs. Here’s how it works.