At Forefront, we consider our private equity
partners to be our bank,
but they will never be our backbone.
Myth #1: Private Equity Calls the Shots
After reading another diatribe about private equity (PE) in Dermatology, I decided to tackle head on some of the wildest myths I’ve heard. And while I can’t speak to all private equity-backed group practices, I can speak to my experience at Forefront Dermatology.
Our Board-certified Dermatologists (BCDs) drive every decision across the group, from how we recruit and who we hire to the specific offerings of our central services to whether or not we choose to partner with another practice. Any claim to the contrary is simply untrue.
Physician-led decision-making is enshrined in our structure as well as our culture. At Forefront, every operational function has an assigned physician leader to guarantee that clinical perspective is always front and center, no matter the issue. This core value and corresponding structure explains how we’ve established and sustained our fundamental practice guidelines, including the commitment to hiring BCDs and maintaining the appropriate ratio of BCDs to PAs and NPs.
Physician leadership is so integral to Forefront in particular because of our origin as an independent, single-specialty group practice. We didn’t start as some front for private equity; we were physician-founded and have always been physician-led. Finally, as long as our physicians want to retain that leadership and decision-making power, our governing structure ensures that they will.
Forefront was founded with the goal of removing any barriers to our doctors’ professional development, productivity, and patient care—and to protect the independent practice of Dermatology in the long run.