What guides and directs your decisions in your private practice? As the physician owner, it should be your choices and decisions, made without influence from third parties. That is physician autonomy.

In 2012, an article by E. J. Emmanuel and S.D. Pearson defined physician autonomy as “the freedom to determine both the conditions of practice and the care delivered with the principal goal that care decisions are aimed at promoting the patient’s well-being.”

As a business owner, you should have control to set the policies and administrative rules in your private practice. In your clinical decisions, your free will should guide your decision-making to prioritize your focus – which in medicine is your ability to care for the needs of the patient.

While the specifics of free will may vary across different faith persuasions and religious beliefs, there is a common thread and central principle – individual choice and responsibility.

Physician autonomy is rooted in the core belief of free will. Practicing direct care medicine is freedom from restraints, particularly those of third-party influencers. The free will to choose this business model for your practice has a deeper meaning based on a realization of clarity in purpose. This alignment in clarity transcends the increasing financial or political motives that often drive the healthcare industry.

Clarity in purpose is foundational. It is the ability to understand one’s goals, values, and beliefs. Finding this clarity is critical to what drives us, what we want to achieve, and how we want to achieve it.

In the context of practicing medicine, finding clarity in purpose is critical for any physician – especially those in their own private practice. In a direct care model, the physician can deliver true healthcare outside the constraints of insurance companies and administrative regulations. It offers doctors the freedom to design their practice in a way to provide and maintain care for their patients. However, with that freedom comes great responsibility to ensure that patient care is not compromised. Clarity in purpose is critical in ensuring that the patient’s needs remain at the center of the practice model.

Free will allows physicians to choose how to proceed. As physicians, we have been taught the Hippocratic tenet of First Do No Harm. I advocate for the direct care model because it aligns with and gives clarity in purpose by truly giving doctors physician autonomy.

A direct care physician can prioritize a patient’s needs to the highest quality because the care given is truly patient-centered. This leads to healthier outcomes and patient satisfaction, which is critical in maintaining and growing a medical practice.

A direct care physician will have a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction because there is a meaning and purpose in the work that is done that goes beyond financial rewards. For any doctor, personal satisfaction reduces physician burnout.

Practicing in direct care creates a win-win situation for both the doctor and the patient. By being intentional with the care that is delivered, treatment stays patient-centered and focused. It develops and establishes a stronger doctor-patient relationship – which is the core essence of clinical care!

As a physician in private practice, you have a unique responsibility to your patients. These individuals have entrusted you with their medical care. This responsibility comes with an obligation to provide the highest standard of care, which can only be achieved when a physician has a clear purpose and understanding of their role.

Like a compass that serves as a symbol of guidance and direction, direct care offers physicians clarity in purpose because of free will and the ability to have physician autonomy.

Grace Torres-Hodges is a podiatrist.