You’ve gone through medical school and completed your residency to become a doctor. Now what?
Even for doctors, getting a start on a career can be a little tough and a lot overwhelming. When you put the hours in at a hospital, you can end up losing track of time and any semblance of direction in your career.
A lot of doctors want to start their own medical practice, but just don’t know how to go about it or don’t take time to step away and make it happen for themselves. In this post, we’re going to tell you how to start a medical practice and get it running with the best chance to have prolonged success.
Although being a doctor is one of the most desirable jobs out there, it can take a toll on you mentally and physically. If you’re able to start your own practice, you can take control of your life and help people along the way.
Learning How to Start a Medical Practice
First and foremost, it’s important to remember that a medical practice is a business and, as the doctor, you’re kind of like an entrepreneur. You’ll need to install a business plan, inject funds, acquire equipment, a building, and adhere to state and federal regulations.
Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to do to start your practice:
Financing
Because no two medical practices are the same, the funding required to open up differs as well. It depends on your specialization, what type of equipment you need, and staffing, but you can expect to need at least $100,000 to get started.
Unless you’ve built up enough capital working in hospitals to fund your practice yourself, you’ll have to get a loan. Walk into the bank prepared with your business plan and your financial projections to get funding. You will need to be prepared with all expenses which include things like equipment, specialized medical license fees, laboratory accreditation fees, software upgrades, etc.
Equipment
Specific types of equipment will differ based on what sort of practice you’re running. Here’s what every practice needs, though:
- An electronic health records system will streamline your practice and help you keep track of all of your patients’ information
- Practice management software like RevenueXL will help with the business side of things
- Medical billing and transcription software will be necessary for working with insurance companies to get you paid
- Any other office management system that you deem necessary to make like easier for you and your staff
Becoming a Legal Entity
Like any other business, you need to become a legal entity. Depending on if you’re a partnership or an LLC, different processes will be involved. Each one has different benefits and pitfalls, so you’ll have to do your own research to figure out which one is best for you.
Insurance is extra crucial for a medical practice. You’re dealing with people’s health, so you need to make sure you’re covered with malpractice, life, and liability insurance. Your bank will require you to have these policies in place in order to give you a loan, as well.
Opening Up
As you can probably tell, there’s a lot of hoops to jump through and paperwork to fill out before you can actually open up your practice. There’s no blueprint for how to start a medical practice, but follow this guide and you’ll be able to have some direction during this exhausting and exciting time.
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