Since the beginning, the healthcare industry has practiced a self-imposed moratorium on doing business and physicians have been encouraged to not address the business side of the delivery of their Oath. And yet if today’s physicians aren’t attentive to the business aspect of their practice, it’s a sure thing they won’t be practicing for long. And then who loses?
So after years of hard work, long hours and endless studying, I was unceremoniously dropped into private practice where I found out that even though I had to assume risk for the business, my staff all had to be paid first leaving me to be the last one to get any money. The fact remained that there were no guarantees I’d even be paid for my services, or anything, for that matter. To even open the doors of a practice you have to commit to paying full-time reception help, nursing, and space costs before you know when your first paying patient will arrive. Even then, there are no guarantees that payment due from those first patients will be on time for you to pay your staff, your office space lease, and or your basic living expenses.
Like many young associates, I began by casting a wide net seeking to fill my appointment book. I didn’t turn away patients whether treating them would be a profitable use of my time or not. In observing my peers, it did not take very long for me to recognize that some aimed to make the most of their training and career; others were just filling time in between graduation and retirement. Those who were enthusiastic and excited about the work they were able to do were rewarded well financially for it. Sadly, the majority of physicians embraced the “Field of Dreams” mentality—hanging a shingle and waiting and hoping clients would come. As you can imagine, results were highly inconsistent and in most cases very poor. The defining characteristic of the successful practice seemed to be a combination of strategic planning, marketing execution and recognition that no doctor has an infinite earning capacity because no matter what we do, there are only 24 hours in a day.
