Beant Gill, MD | Maryland

Beant Gill, MD

Radiation oncologist, community practice

Associates in Radiation Medicine
Waldorf and Charlotte Hall, Maryland

Each site:
30-50 patients on one linac

Average treatment times:
8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

14 physicians at eight sites,
four radiation therapists at each site to cover the one linac
one CT sim, 16 nurses (two at each site)

Special procedures:
All linac-based, surface guidance, gyn intracavitary brachytherapy and prostate LDR brachy

I am nine years out from residency and joined the group here six years ago. I took on medical directorship of our clinics two years ago, and for the last year I’ve been president of our group. I fully appreciate now the work that goes in the back scenes of management.

What does your commute look like?

I’m about four miles out of DC, and I reverse commute. There’s typically no traffic but there are currently some interesting dynamics in Washington, DC, with a return to office mandate for a lot of Federal workers. It takes about 35-50 minutes to commute both ways. I found that a 30-minute commute is the nice spot where you can listen to a QuadShot podcast or ASTRO lectures or just zone out and listen to NPR.

What does home life look like for you outside of work?

I am blessed to have a wife and 2-year-old daughter. I have a dog that is 10. Every day I take her for a walk, which is my daily Zen moment. Unless it’s snowing and 20 degrees.

Tell me about a typical day at your clinic.

I serve two clinics and am at each site two to three days per week. Four rotating doctors staff these two clinics, and we each have 15-20 patients on beam.

When patients need concurrent chemotherapy, how do they receive that?

We function with a number of other facilities and providers, which takes quite a bit of communication. It becomes easier when relationships are formed across practices.

What challenges does your practice setting present?

The glaring one is reimbursement decline. In the Washington, DC, area, you get exposed to perspectives about health care from people who work outside of health care. A lot of policymakers, pundits, lobbyists, and so forth have this concept that physicians are overpaid.

Why do you enjoy, or why do you prefer your practice setting?

One of the luxuries of community medicine is you really feel your impact. You get to know patients, their friends, their family members. If you do a good job, you develop a reputation, and then you really feel you are serving the community.
I also enjoy the independence and flexibility. When I first started here I wanted to change the simulation order. Who do I need to check with? No one? We are the leaders and drivers of the culture in our practice, and that can be very rewarding.

What first drew you to the field of radiation oncology? Does it still apply today in your day job?

I really enjoyed the intense relationship with patients with cancer. You feel the need to be there, not just as a provider, but as a person. It’s more challenging because we have shorter treatment courses. So the intensity of the relationship is different now, but I do still very much enjoy time with patients as well as the technical aspects.

What has changed the most about your practice, or even potentially about the field, over your tenure?

It feels like the burden of prior authorization has continually increased despite my experience in navigating the process and preempting roadblocks.

What worries you most about the future of your practice and/or the field?

Access to high quality care for patients in a community setting, if reimbursement and cost continue to be an issue. The other worry is becoming proceduralists. With the push to see more patients, some rad oncs are transitioning to managing consults only, with patients in follow-up seeing an advanced practitioner or the referring provider. This paradigm doesn’t promote our ability to be oncologists. It also doesn’t help us learn from the outcomes of our treatment.

What are you most excited about when looking to the future?

The value of radiation oncology in oligoprogressive disease and the potential to place people in remission for extended time with oligometastatic disease. The other is technology. Software advancements such as AI integration are fascinating. I know some worry about how that will impact our demand, but if harnessed the right way, it can be very helpful for increasing our efficiency.

What is your most cherished professional accomplishment?

Patient scenarios where you’ve had a great outcome, and they’re so appreciative. And being promoted to president of my group made me feel valued by colleagues. Also working with the ASTRO Education Committee. I always thought the one thing that I was going to miss in community practice was being able to provide education. It is a rewarding avenue to give back, especially to community practitioners.

What does wellness mean in your life? And how do you recharge or pursue wellness, despite having a lot of demands on your time?

I have learned the importance of wellness as I have developed more gray hairs. I’m a worker bee. I like to pack my schedule. It got to a point where I’d skip breakfast, skip lunch. And I think that’s not sustainable. Try to take some time for yourself in the middle of the day to step away and go for a walk, sit outside, sit in the break room and talk with staff. Also take vacation. Empower your staff and partners to take care of your patients when you’re out. And really use that time to separate from work. At least that’s what I figured out in 10 years. I’ll let you know in another 10 years if that’s working.