So You Want To Start Your Own Private Practice?

You’ve made the big decision to set out on your own and start your own private practice. Congratulations! It may be a scary proposition but many doctors and professionals have made that decision before you and had (and have) rewarding and fruitful careers. You will too. There’s nothing more satisfying than building your own practice that brings your skills and healing arts to your community and rewards you for the risk you take and the sweat equity you invest. You can temper your risk, and limit the amount of equity you have to invest at the start, by getting good advice from practice management experts and experienced doctors who have already built successful practices. You will find them here at PrivatePractice.MD!
Plan on spending at least six months planning and organizing your new practice. These six months might be at the end of your residency or fellowship, or start on the day you give notice to your current employer that you’re striking out on your own. Much of the preparation can be done after work hours, or on weekends, but plan to have a few full days off early in the six months, and more days off as you get close to your new private practice’s opening day. In the beginning you will spend some time with a lawyer establishing your business, and other days meeting potential members of your support team such as your accountant and insurance agents. You’ll need to search for your new office location. Closer to opening day you’ll interview your new office staff. You might just need a receptionist and medical assistant on your staff at first, as almost every other task can be outsourced. You’ll want to get furniture and some equipment and supplies, and set up the actual office of course before opening your doors to your new patients.

Although you may have only a few patients at first, with good planning and advertising that relatively quiet period can be much shorter. Perhaps you’ll moonlight or take a line of credit for cash flow until you start getting paid for patients you start to see. It could be several months before insurance companies start paying you for the care you provide your new patients, so you need to have other sources of money to pay your staff and overhead from the start.

It sounds daunting, but you can do it! You graduated from medical school, didn’t you? As I mentioned, many doctors have taken the step you’re about to take, and they’ve never looked back. The key is to plan correctly, and get good advice. That’s not so hard.

The nature of the private practice is changing, as it always has, with the changing nature of healthcare in the US. Private practice won’t be going away, in my opinion, though I have read predictions that it is a fading medical institution. Patients still rely on THEIR doctor to heal them and keep them healthy. No big hospital or hospital clinic can provide the personal level of care that you as a private practitioner can provide your patients. Your patients will consider you part of their family, and trust you like they trust no other professional except maybe the nurse in your office. That’s the reward for you. And the challenge, because you have to manage your practice well enough to let you concentrate on your patients. You don’t want or need distractions caused by poor planning or poor office protocols, or concerns about payroll or overdue bills.

Build your practice correctly from the foundation on up, and your new patients will flock to you. Now, get to work and good luck!