10 important tips for medical doctors who pursue entrepreneurial endeavors
To: ACE MEDICAL
From: Rock P.
1) Develop a strategic advantage: Be sure to differentiate yourself from the competitors. Find a niche and implement it as fast as you can. For example, patient satisfaction is our number one goal and a mission of ACE.
2) Create a competitive advantage: Develop patient intimacy by understanding the needs of patients. Personally, I can tell you that you both already are understanding people as doctors. However, this idea can be thought of as what Carl Rogers said to be “Unconditional Positive Regard” in his theory. Which is having the innate ability to put yourself in the shoes of the patient; trying to realize or visualize how the patient sees their medical condition since they live with it. They rely on the medical doctor to help guide them to better health.
3) Know your patients: Survey patients monthly. Patients like to asked their opinions, and it makes them feel more involved needed. As you know, needs change, patients come and go. Not only does this advantage of surveying help maintain patient loyalty, it also gives you numbers a measurement tool to develop or change ideas or implements to better grow in the future.
4) Market your medical practice heavily: Even if you do not attract patients, you will increase payors and increase revenue, reduce competition, and establish a nice brand.
5) Perform business analysis at regular intervals: Financial budgeting and accounting is so crucial to your success. Study and understand your main and secondary money makers or revenue. What do you make most money on (ancillary services, such as Echo and various ultrasounds) and capitalize on what you make more revenue on. You want to understand your office expense and develop methods to control unnecessary costs.
6) Base your business decisions on quantitative facts not just qualitative assessments. In other words, before you bring in other medical doctors, look closely at alternatives that may bring you as much money at a lesser cost (Nurse Practitioner or a physician assistant) or maybe more medical office assistants to nurses or more LPN’s to RN’s. The idea here is to mix your resources to maximize your profit and still maintain good quality.
7) Use activity base costing: By looking at budget and expenses, a physician can determine the best ways to reallocate the resources. Remember numbers never lie, and are great indicators or windows of opportunity for change. Change is always good when it benefits the medical practice.
Design your practice around your strategic vision: How big do you want to grow? How do you see yourself in 5 years from now? Do I have the right people on board to achieve these goals? Basically design your practice around your mission, vision, and values that you instill into the culture of ACE MEDICAL.
9) Establish a teamwork approach into your culture: Demonstrate leadership and set good examples for your workers to inspire them. Remember patients help generate revenue, and so do employees that work for you. Keep them happy and they will work harder than you can imagine. The best example I can give here is as medical doctors people respect you highly, both in the community and in your work environment, so anything you say can affect people around you. You are a specialty and everyone knows it. If I were in your shoes, I would make it a point to go out of my way to let someone know how good a job they are doing, maybe a pat on the back. You will be surprised at how much that means to people. Sometimes when you cannot afford to give raises, other incentives like a pat on the back works just as good.
10) Manage Change: Practice change management! Lead your workers/team to embrace changes. When you continually assess your company, you will see that changes are necessary to stay competitive in your environment.
I hope this helps. There are so many more things involved in maintaining and being successful at running a business. I have noticed that ACE MEDICAL has a great reputation in town and as you continue to grow, you will be the best primary care facility in the area.
Rock P.
