Physician Entrepreneurs: Private Practice - Running a Small Business
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Physician entrepreneurs and their partners are entrepreneurs and you need to look at their practice as a business. That means understanding all the aspects of running a small business. Suggestions for hiring staff and marketing your medical practice.
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Physician Entrepreneurs: Private Practice - Running a Small Business
- 1. Physician Entrepreneurs Private Practice: Running a Small Business by David I. Katz
- 2. Private practice carries both higher risks and greater long-term potential rewards www.davidikatzauthor.com
- 3. Physicians in private practice are entrepreneurs and need to look at your practice as a business www.davidikatzauthor.com
- 4. What skill sets do you have: • Is there someone who knows the numbers? • Who can be the "face" of the practice? • Who will market to prospective patients? • Who understands the operational issues? • Who knows HR, how to recruit and hire the right people? www.davidikatzauthor.com
- 5. Create Advisory Board www.davidikatzauthor.com • Attorney • Banker • Accountant • Retired Physician • Marketing Professional
- 6. Marketing Your Medical Practice Marketing Strategy • Target Demographics • Referrals • Marketing Channels www.davidikatzauthor.com
- 7. Marketing Your Medical Practice Marketing expertise: • Do you have marketing experience? • Hire a marketing consultant www.davidikatzauthor.com
- 8. Marketing Channels for Your Medical Practice Website • lists your services and credentials www.davidikatzauthor.com
- 9. www.davidikatzauthor.com Marketing Channels for Your Medical Practice Social Media • Facebook – invite Likes • YouTube – videos • Blog – health and medical topics
- 10. www.davidikatzauthor.com Marketing Channels for Your Medical Practice Direct mail and print advertising • Send out flyers to homes • Run ads in papers, magazines • Special offers
- 11. www.davidikatzauthor.com Marketing Channels for Your Medical Practice Public relations • Free articles for papers, TV and magazines • Authoritative source • Builds awareness • Content for website and social media
- 12. www.davidikatzauthor.com Marketing Channels for Your Medical Practice Community participation • Speak to local groups • Volunteer
- 13. www.davidikatzauthor.com Hiring Staff for Your Medical Practice Office staff • Office manager • Nurse or nurse practitioner • Front office: scheduling and greeting • Back office: billing and collections
- 14. www.davidikatzauthor.com Hiring Staff for Your Medical Practice Office staff • What role does each person play? • Every employee is an expense • Too few staff v too many
- 15. www.davidikatzauthor.com Hiring Staff for Your Medical Practice How to hire office staff • Referrals • Jobs Wanted listings • Staffing firms
- 16. www.davidikatzauthor.com Hiring Staff for Your Medical Practice Referrals • Simplifies search process • Saves time and money • Difficult to turn down family referrals
- 17. www.davidikatzauthor.com Hiring Staff for Your Medical Practice Job wanted listings • Many potential candidates • Time consuming
- 18. www.davidikatzauthor.com Hiring Staff for Your Medical Practice Staffing firm • Professional recruiters handle the whole process • Increased costs • Additional services such as temps
- 19. Remember that in a small practice you are always wearing two hats: providing professional services and operating a small business. Regardless of how good you are clinically, you have to manage the financial side effectively if you want to be successful. www.davidikatzauthor.com ~ Dr. Richard Greenwald
- 20. A Financial Prescription for Doctors and Dentists www.davidikatzauthor.com
- 21. about David I. Katz, Wealth Manager and Financial Advisor: www.davidikatzauthor.com I bring more than two decades of experience to my role as an advisor and guide to today's volatile financial markets. I also have a deep understanding of the financial issues facing many doctors, dentists, and other medical professionals. Contact David Katz: david@davidikatzauthor.com
- 22. David I. Katz Author · Financial Advisor · Speaker • Named as one of the "Best Financial Advisers for Doctors" by Medical Economics Magazine 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 • Five Star Wealth Manager Award Winner in Florida and NJ 2012, 2013 and 2014 by Five Star Professional • Named as one of the "Best Financial Advisers for Dentists" 2012, 2013 and 2014 by Dental Products Report www.davidikatzauthor.com
- 23. free download 20 Questions to Ask a Prospective Financial Advisor www.davidikatzauthor.com
Editor's Notes
- Physician entrepreneurs and their partners need to understand that you are entrepreneurs and you need to look at your practice as a business. That means understanding all the aspects of running a small business. by David I. Katz, financial advisor, speaker and author of A Financial Prescription for Doctors and Dentists - Strategies for Achieving Your Personal and Career Goals
- Opening your own practice - either as a solo practitioner or with a small group of partners - carries both higher risks and greater long-term potential rewards. If you can build a strong base of patients, institute effective billing and collection procedures, and generate enough revenue to cover the bills, you will be well on your way to developing a successful practice. However, you and your partners will need to understand that you are entrepreneurs and you will need to look at your practice as a business. That means understanding all the aspects of running a small business.
- Physicians in private practice need to understand that you are entrepreneurs and you will need to look at your practice as a business.
- What skill sets do you have: Is there someone who knows the numbers? Who can become the "face" of the new practice? Who will market to prospective patients? Who understands the operational issues? Who knows the HR side, do you know how to recruit and hire the right people? The nation's healthcare system is undergoing a dramatic change. Medical professionals need guidance in managing their day-to-day finances, setting aside money for the future, and achieving their long-term personal goals.
- One suggestion is to create a board of advisors that might include an attorney, a banker, an accountant, a retired physician and a marketing professional. They can become part of your professional team, contributing their insights and helping you avoid making big mistakes right from the start.
- To build a successful medical or dental practice, you need to attract patients. That means thinking about marketing right from the start, so that you can develop a growing base of patients who will begin to refer family, friends and neighbors to your office.
- If marketing is unfamiliar territory, bring in a marketing consultant or advisor who can help you develop an effective program.
- Marketing channels to consider for your medical practice: Website. This is one of the basics. Prospective patients will visit your site before making an appointment to look at your services, your credentials and your "likeability" factor. They want to feel comfortable coming to your office.
- Marketing channels to consider for your medical practice: Social media. You may want to create a Facebook page about your practice and invite people to "like" your page. You could post brief videos on YouTube or write a blog about health and medical topics, depending on your time and inclination.
- Marketing channels to consider for your medical practice: Direct mail and print advertising. Many practices send flyers to households in the immediate area or run advertisements in local newspapers, magazines or flyers. It's usually a good idea to include some type of "special offer" to help induce prospective patients to make an appointment and when they mention that offer, you can find out where they heard of your practice – a valuable piece of information for the future.
- Marketing channels to consider for your medical practice: Public relations. Online news sites, television stations, magazines and newspapers are often interested in timely articles about health, fitness, disease and science – particularly when provided for "free" from a local physician or dentist. A public relations program can position you as an authoritative source of information and build awareness of your services. It can also generate plenty of content for your website and social media pages.
- Marketing channels to consider for your medical practice: Community participation. You may want to take advantage of opportunities to speak at local clubs, civic or fundraising organizations. Depending on your area of practice, you could get involved in a volunteer cause, such as raising funds for the American Heart Association or American Cancer Society. By giving back to the community, you can forge relationships that may lead to referrals in the future.
- A good office staff provides the foundation for building a successful practice. That might include an office manager, a nurse or nurse practitioner, front-office staffers to handle patient scheduling and outreach, and back-office staff to handle billing and collections. Ideally, these staffers will be experienced professionals with strong “people skills” who enjoy helping patients and operating the practice.
- How many staff are necessary and what role will they play? Every employee is an ongoing expense to the practice - including both salary and benefits—medical professionals should be sure every person hired has a productive role to play. However, operating with too few staffers can negatively affect the patient experience (such as long wait times), so you need to find the right balance.
- To find potentially qualified staffers, you should use a wide range of methods, such as asking family and friends for referrals, scanning online and print “jobs wanted” listings, and contacting staffing firms that specialize in medical and healthcare personnel. There are pros and cons to each one.
- A referral of a qualified candidate from someone you know can simplify the search process, saving you time and money. But be sure to check all references and credentials before extending an offer. On the negative side, it can be difficult to turn down a referral from a family member or close friend, unless the candidate is clearly unqualified. But if you have doubts about whether the potential staffer will be a good fit for your practice, say “no” right at the start to minimize any problems with your relatives or friends.
- Searching for candidates yourself. With online job sites and social media, it’s never been easier to find dozens of potential candidates for each position. But it takes time—plus a certain set of recruiting skills—to screen out unqualified or undesirable candidates, set up interviews and complete the hiring process yourself. Since most doctors and dentists would much prefer to be seeing patients, rather than job candidates, you may want to delegate at least some of the recruiting steps to someone you trust.
- Engaging a staffing firm. A professional firm can help you find good staffers by handling the recruiting, screening and initial interviewing process. This approach reduces your time spent on staffing-related issues, but increases your costs, since the firm will receive a fee for its services. In some cases, a staffing firm may let you “try out” a potential employee for a limited period of time in order to see if the person is a good match for your practice. Staffing firms can also provide temporary staffing for vacations and sick days as well.
- Remember that in a small practice you are always wearing two hats: providing professional services and operating a small business. Regardless of how good you are clinically, you have to manage the financial side effectively if you want to be successful. ~ Dr. Richard Greenwald,
- As a financial advisor married to a physician for 25 years, David I. Katz has expertise in advising doctors, dentists and medical professionals on the financial facts of life. Visit David’s website: www.davidikatzauthor.com or connect with David Katz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidikatz Buy the book: A Financial Prescription for Doctors and Dentists is available at Amazon, iBook, Barnes & Noble in hard copy and ebook editions.
- about David I. Katz, Wealth Manager and Financial Advisor: I bring more than two decades of experience to my role as an advisor and guide to today's volatile financial markets. I also have a deep understanding of the financial issues facing many doctors, dentists, and other medical professionals. Contact David Katz: david@davidikatzauthor.com David Katz is available to speak at your next medical meeting or conference: david@davidikatzauthor.com
- David I Katz Author · Financial Advisor · Speaker Named as one of the "Best Financial Advisers for Doctors" by Medical Economics Magazine 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Five Star Wealth Manager Award Winner in Florida and NJ 2012, 2013 and 2014 by Five Star Professional Named as one of the "Best Financial Advisers for Dentists" 2012, 2013 and 2014 by Dental Products Report
- free download: http://eepurl.com/5J4P5 20 Questions to Ask a Prospective Financial Advisor