Erica Rowe Urquhart, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, joins Medical Economics’ Editorial Advisory Board

Medical Economics is pleased to announce Erica Rowe Urquhart, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, has joined its Editorial Advisory Board, where she will provide strategic guidance on the business of independent medical practice and macroeconomic conditions affecting U.S. health care.

Urquhart specialized in orthopedic surgery for nearly 20 years as a partner in Urquhart Orthopedic Associates in Bayonne, N.J. She continues to manage the business side of the practice, where her husband, orthopedic surgeon Marc Wayne Urquhart, M.D., treats patients.

Urquhart is the author of “The Invisible Hand Wielding the Scalpel: The Hidden Cause of America’s Healthcare Crisis.” The book-length expose uses her own experience as a physician as the foundation to outline the delays and roadblocks that doctors and patients experience when determining appropriate treatments. The culprits: health insurance companies, and the economic and social conditions that lead to medical practice consolidation and disparities in health equity.

"My passion is to help independent physicians deepen their understanding of the business of medicine so they can protect both their autonomy and their patients’ access to care, Urquhart said. “In today’s health care marketplace, revenue and reimbursement are not fixed realities — they are moving targets.

“For independent practices, this dual vigilance — keeping a finger on the pulse of the behavior of reimbursement entities while staying close to the needs and constraints of their patients — is no longer optional; it is a core competency," she said.

Urquhart discusses those issues as part of “The UpMed Podcast: A Journal of Healthcare’s Race to the Bottom,” with two seasons online and a third in process. She also is developing a health care technology platform for surgical asset management.

Urquhart earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Harvard College, and her medical degree and doctorate in neurosciences from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed her orthopedic surgery residency at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

Urquhart gained first-hand experience as a patient in critical care when dealing with a diagnosis of junctional heart rhythm. Her time recovering was spent pursuing a master’s degree in biblical and theological studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. Traveling for research for that degree led to Oxford, England, where she later earned her master’s degree in business administration from Oxford University’s Said Business School.

You can hear more about her work in “The real problem with health care,” a discussion with Medical Economics Editorial Advisory Board member Melissa Lucarelli, M.D., FAAFP, for Off the Chart: A Business of Medicine Podcast.