Is there an MBA in the house? Why so many Colorado docs pack a medical bag - and a briefcase.

• Author: Bohland, Kathleen
• Position: Includes list of medical schools in Colorado

It's Friday morning and general surgeon Dr. Art Jones is seeing patients.

Jones has 20 years' experience as a physician, and when it comes to his patients, taking care of business is as simple as diagnosing a man's difficulty walking around the block.

"Well, doc, I've been worried," said the 53-year-old man. "I limp into work. I walk two blocks, but then I have to stop and rest.

Jones uses compassion and logic to determine the patient's problems, which include high blood pressure, a three-pack-a-day smoking habit, possible blood clots in his legs and a marriage gone bad. But logic and compassion haven't helped Jones deal with 30 different insurance companies as a Denver-based sole practitioner.

Jones, 52, last year completed a dual mater's degree in business and health administration from the University of Colorado at Denver. He's one of a growing number of physicians in Colorado and nationwide who have discovered that the business of medicine is more difficult than the practice of it.

Although it's difficult to track how many Colorado physicians are pursuing business degrees, program directors at local business schools says the number of doctors in their programs has increased steadily since the early 1990s, as managed care began to dominate the health care scene.

For many physicians, the business of medicine is daunting, said Ralph Pollock of Denver-based AP Group, a health care consulting firm.

"Obviously, doctors didn't go to medical school to become experts in business - they are caregivers. Then all of a sudden they're confronted with this stuff," Pollock said. "A physician said to me once, 'I don't want to hear the word, "business,"' but that's what it is. It's not a demeaning word."

Some doctors plant to retire in a few years and don't want to deal with health care changes, Pollock said. The doctors who pursue business training, like Jones, usually are in their 40s and 50s. They're struggling to maintain their income or want to get involved in the management. Some MBA candidates are medical school students who feel they may not get to practice good medicine if they don't understand the economics behind it.

Understanding business "doesn't mean doctors will spend fewer hours with their patients," said Pollock. "But it may mean a doctor won't survive if he doesn't run his practice efficiently."

Lisa Ponfick hasn't practiced medicine yet, but already she is worried about how to manage the business side of her chosen field. At 25, she's...