Recently I was reading an article in a business management magazine.
The article highlighted some of the challenges faced by small business owners when they start.
But it could also have been written about a consultant surgeon starting a medical practice.
Starting Out
The article illustrated how many small business owners attempted to start their business without assistance.
It is therefore common subsequently for the business to struggle with, for example, a lack of customers or a lack of cash.
This is normal for a consultant surgeon starting a private practice too.
It is not easy to start a private practice. There is a huge amount to be considered.
The basic rule is that if it can go wrong it will go wrong.
Needs fixing
It happened when I formed MHM too.
Despite 35 years worth of managerial experience in running a business for various employers, I was used to ringing IT and having them install a new computer.
As a small business, ALL of that had to be done by myself. I soon realised, even though it cost, it was much better to go out and find someone who DID know what to do.
Private Practice
The first item in the article stated the first challenge facing a new small business is a lack of clients.
The same situation a newly established private medical practice faces too.
The second item was the lack of cash.
When I go meet a prospective client both are mentioned. Regarding the second point, the amount of cash generated by the small number of patients is nowhere near what was expected.
Yet I recollect when speaking to a colleague who specialised in marketing for consultant surgeons, most practices do not have a process in place to utilise the positive experience enjoyed by existing patients.
Their lack of new patients could be helped by using testimonials from current patients. The new practice does not have the right marketing strategies (both online and offline) to attract patients consistently.
No Plan
Instead, marketing is left to drift.
My colleague is an expert at medical marketing yet she suffers from consultants believing she is too expensive to engage.
Alternatively, the new private consultant surgeon has a conversation with a colleague who has an established practice.
Hopefully, this pays dividends but it does suppose the established surgeon is maximizing his own marketing efforts.
Muddling Through
Precisely the same happens when the subject turns to medical invoicing.
Many newly established private medical practices assume the invoicing – the “accounts bit” – is just as easy as marketing.
It will sort itself out in the end. If it doesn’t they ask a colleague how they do it.
Once again it assumes the colleague is managing his billing correctly.
Sadly he may not be.
The Paradox
The paradox, therefore, is that many consultant surgeons when they start out, make the same mistake as I did with my IT requirements when I started.
Two weeks and a few hundred YouTube videos later, I bit the bullet and called someone who DID know.
It cost me £150 but within ONE day I had all the systems up, running and working very efficiently.
The old adage of “if you think hiring a professional is expensive, try hiring an amateur” springs to mind.
Yet many private surgeons, by attempting to manage their own medical invoicing or asking their medical secretary to do the billing to an expert standard, make precisely the same mistake.
pete@medicalhealthcaremanagement.co.uk