Going All In on the OBL and Finding Your Ikigai

In this episode, interventional radiologist Dr. John Lipman joins host Dr. Aaron Fritts to discuss how he came to be one of the first IRs to own an office-based lab (OBL) and how he decided to specialize in uterine fibroid embolization (UFE).

Dr. Lipman begins by discussing his path to independent practice. After training at Georgetown, Brigham and Women’s and Yale, he worked in a private practice in Atlanta. In 2004, after 14 years and a growing desire to be an independent IR, he found a hospital to partner with where he could work independently. He started with professional fees only before landing a 50/50 joint venture deal with the hospital. He installed an MRI and angio suite and used a retired ER for his recovery rooms.

In 2015 he opened his OBL, the Atlanta Fibroid Center. He was able to lease equipment and buy the real estate with loans and capital he had from his prior practice. He decided to specialize in uterine fibroid embolization for his practice rather than performing a variety of procedures. He says that ultimately, he decided to specialize in what he was most passionate about.

The two discuss how Dr. Lipman received enormous pushback and criticism from many who thought opening a center that only offered one procedure was impossible. He used the antagonism as fuel, and after consulting women's groups in Atlanta he opened an OBL that focused on quality and privacy. Dr. Lipman ends by discussing how OBLs are the future of medicine and that they are a method for physicians to take back ownership of medicine from hospital administrators and recover the patient physician relationship.