5 Steps How To Open A Medical Practice

(doylc.com) How to Start a Medical Practice - Having your own doctor's office or doctor's office can mean the freedom to be your own boss and choose your own patients. If you're thinking about starting your own practice, you need to be organized and have a plan. You must also be a licensed doctor and have completed all the training required for your profession.

• How to get a medical degree

1. Start with the undergraduate course. A completed bachelor’s degree is required before medical school in most countries around the world. Some medical schools have prerequisite courses that must be taken as part of your undergraduate degree. This usually includes basic science courses such as chemistry and biology, and some possible courses in human anatomy and physiology. The purpose of the foundation courses is to prepare you for the type of material you will study in medical school.

However, some medical schools are more flexible and accept fewer prerequisite courses. Check what is required at the medical schools that interest you.

2. Go to medical school. Once you have completed the required prerequisites and undergraduate studies, apply to the medical schools that interest you. It is best to apply to several different schools as entry into medical school can be very competitive.

Medical studies usually last a total of 4 years. Study requirements are high, so prepare for a heavy workload.

You must be willing to devote most of your life to school during these years. Relationships, hobbies, and passions must be carefully prioritized to balance the work required to complete medical school. Consider whether you are willing to make such a sacrifice.

3. Decide on a medical specialty . After completing your medical studies, you have to decide whether you want to become a general practitioner (family doctor) or continue your studies to become a specialist (e.g. cardiologist, emergency doctor, internist or surgeon, etc.). It typically takes about 3 years of postgraduate study to become a licensed general practitioner and about 5 or more years of postgraduate study to become a specialist.

When choosing your desired field, consider the lifestyle of the particular specialty you are considering and the availability of jobs in your area.

4. Complete your medical internship and residency. After you have selected your desired field of study, you must apply for an internship and/or a stay. The requirements depend on where you want to practice. This phase of your training is paid and typically involves extensive hospital work, taking you through a number of areas of the hospital but focusing on your areas of interest. It usually takes between 2 and 5 years to become a fully licensed doctor or board certified doctor.

5. Think about what kind of practice you want to open. As a licensed doctor, you can decide whether you want to work in a healthcare system, in a group practice or as a freelancer. Depending on your specialty and preferences, you can work in a hospital, an ambulance, or both. Hospital positions are often salary-based when you work as an employee for the hospital, while private practice involves running your own business and collecting your own patients.

The rest of this article assumes that you will start your own medical practice.

• How to setting up office

1. Find resources for the type of practice you want to set up. Various medical society organizations provide resources to members who wish to start their own practice. These resources can include templates for paperwork, legal documents, and planning tools. Search the medical society for your specialty for resources to help you build your practice.

For example, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has direct primary care resources. In this way, you can set up your practice independently of insurance.

For resources, see the American Medical Association (AMA) website: https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management

2. Choose a location for your office. It is important to consider factors such as commute time as well as the patient population that a particular area is targeting. For example, some locations tend to attract older patients, some tend to attract homeless people or recovering addicts, while others tend to attract families with young children. If patient demographics are important to you, consider the impact location can have on them.

Also, consider renting a clinic space instead of owning it when you first open your practice. That way you can try it out and make sure you like it before making a long-term commitment.

Think of factors like temperature regulation (can you regulate the heating and/or air conditioning), the aesthetics of the space and the overall feel of the office. You will spend a large part of your life in the practice, so it pays to find a place that you, your staff and your patients enjoy.

Also consider the marketing aspect of your location. Is it easy for people to reach? Is it in a populated area? Is there good parking?

3. Obtain any permits or licenses you need to have your own medical practice. Contact your local Department of Health to get all the documentation you need. You may want to do this early, just in case you have to wait for the paperwork to be processed.

4. Buy medical equipment, computers and other consumables. They need funds to pay for other start-up expenses like medical equipment. You will also need a computer system and software to keep all your records and medical records. Computer systems make it easier to take notes. Any doctor or nurse in your practice can upload notes directly into a system, and everyone has access to a patient's medical and medication history.

If you decide not to use a paperless computer system, you need to ensure that your office has enough space for the paper files and cabinets.

You may need to borrow money to cover the initial start-up costs of your business and medical equipment costs. Rest assured that investing in your own practice will pay off in the long run.

5. Obtain insurance coverage. You need insurance to protect yourself from anything that might happen to your patients. You should register with at least one major insurance company. Make sure you are fully covered by professional liability insurance.

6. Win patients. If you have regular patients from a previous practice, you may be able to bring them in. If you're starting from scratch, talk to other doctors about strategies to market yourself and attract patients. Another option is to buy out a retired doctor's practice and take care of all the patients that the other doctor used to take care of.

• How to hire a team

7. Hire other employees. You should hire at least a receptionist and an accountant and find staff who work well with each other and with you. It is also important to understand the hiring and firing laws in your area; When selecting employees for your company, you should follow the appropriate protocol.

8. Decide whether or not you want to work with other doctors. If you are looking to form a partnership, you will need the help of a lawyer in drawing up a comprehensive practice agreement. Even if you're the only doctor who wants to work alone, consider a team agreement for everyone in your clinic that sets goals and expectations for running the practice. Formalizing your working relationships with the other doctors and/or staff at your clinic can help ensure your business runs as smoothly as possible once it is launched.

9. Set clear job descriptions and expectations for your employees. This increases the chances of success for your colleagues and also reduces hidden costs associated with employee turnover. You should also find ways to check in with your employees, evaluate their performance, and provide regular feedback. This helps them feel cared for and guided, which is expected. It also increases the efficiency and effectiveness of your business operations, all of which are important for long-term success.

• How to manage finances

1. Understand the billing process. See if there's a Physician Support Center in your area for billing advice and support - there are often local resources that can help physicians with this. Also, billing is a task you don't want to delegate to office workers. It takes very little time once you master it, and most EMR (Electronic Medical Record) systems have the billing process embedded in the software itself, making it quick and easy.

You know your patients best and can therefore bill you best and most comprehensively for the services you provide.

2. Establish a process to inform patients about the cost of services. It is important to be clear about what is and is not covered for patients under a prepaid healthcare plan, and how patients (or third parties, where applicable) will be billed for services not covered. Take the time to familiarize yourself with how the billing process applies to patients and do some research beforehand on any costs that will come out of the patient's pocket. Clear communication and disclosure of costs is important.

3. Talk to an accountant about taxes. They want to know how much money they need to put aside, when taxes are due (e.g. you can pay taxes quarterly), and the differences in filing taxes for a business owner versus an employee of a company. As a business owner, you have many things to write off, so you should keep receipts related to your business in a special folder. It is also advisable to use a separate bank account and credit card for all business income and expenses.

4. Consult a financial advisor to create a long-term plan. It's important to consider your long-term financial goals and plan for retirement appropriately, with a target age for closing your practice and an idea of ​​how much money you'll need to sustain your lifestyle. Planning your overall financial goals will help keep you on track as you start your own medical practice.

• How to storing patient data

1. Make sure you understand patient confidentiality requirements. Find out about the Health Information Act or other data protection regulations that apply in your area. Contact an attorney who has experience working with healthcare professionals for assistance in this area. Privacy and confidentiality are key to medical practice.

2. Have your employees sign privacy and confidentiality documents. Again, this can be done with the help of a lawyer experienced in healthcare and medical practice. You want everyone on your team to be familiar with data protection requirements, including information sharing standards and patient consent procedures for various procedures.

3. Use electronic medical records (EMR). While medical offices used to be kept with paper records, this is now done via computerized EMR. This ensures faster access to patient records, more comprehensive data that can be quickly searched on the computer, and easy access to patient records elsewhere (e.g. in the hospital) when needed. In short, EMR is a much more efficient and effective way to store patient information.