(FORTUNE Magazine) – Doctors are heading to business schools to discover a cure for tighter government regulations, onerous insurance requirements, and increasing scrutiny of their fees -- or else to find a new career. Health care professionals account for 12% of the class in Wake Forest University's Babcock executive MBA program, up from 6% three years ago. Other B-schools with executive MBAs -- including Minnesota's Carlson and Southern Methodist's Cox -- are seeing like gains. Wake Forest is also one of six universities that offer a combined M.D./MBA program. Ward Kurad, 58, a urologist in Hickory, North Carolina, is a 1991 Babcock grad. He's giving up his practice of 27 years to become a consultant to businesses and hospitals. Says he: ''The medical profession has had a blank check for 25 years. Now we have to start using the tools -- quality and cost control, outcomes management -- that business has been developing over that time.'' Doctors who manage their own medical groups are coagulating at organizations such as the American College of Physician Executives, which leads management seminars. Kurad estimates that as a consultant he'll earn $100,000, half what he made as a physician. Says the good doctor: ''I still love the medical aspects of practicing, but I've burned out on the paperwork mill and the hassles with insurance and Medicare.''