One of the things I get to discuss with docs frequently is the impact that their decisions made every day in the course of practice have on their health, prosperity, and yes even their lifespan and career longevity.
Even though DPC has far less BS than traditional models, success still requires diligence and systems to make it fun, profitable and for most of us, life-sustaining. Somehow though as in any organization, “stuff” can creep in.
I often argue that so much of this “stuff” we let into our lives and practices are unnecessary. But that of course is another story entirely.
There is however one simple thing you can do that will significantly reduce the BS in practice and impact next year and your entire future in a very positive way.
The best way to do this is to start to treat practice more like the business it really is. Every day, learn more and more CEO skills.
Learn what the greats in business and practice do year after year.
And the most important piece is learning to make decisions.
Too many business owners, and yes, private practice owners do not take this seriously enough. They sometimes delegate things to managers and even support staff that they should be handling themselves.
Most especially, this includes things like which patients to accept or not, companies to work with, staff additions, and more.
Jack Welch is famous for stating that every year we need to cut out the bottom 15% of our business. That means of course in practice systems, perhaps staffing, and even some non-compliant patients.
I respectfully submit to you today that making these sometimes difficult decisions first will have the biggest impact on the next year in practice and hopefully the rest of your life!
What’s your biggest practice hang-up? Let me know and let’s start a conversation!
Interesting idea. If you are thinking about getting rid of 15% of your patients, how do you deal with the real legal concern of abandonment? Do you need some sort of cause? Can you just say, “I don’t think we have a very therapeutic relationship”? It’s one thing if you have a patient who is constantly cancelling appointments or no-shows, and after repeated warnings (and documentation) you decide to let them go. However, how do you handle a “bottom 15%” of your practice patient that there is no documentation of an egregious error, but they still remain a drain on the practice?
good questions
I have been thinking about this as I have been getting many new middle aged male patients whose main reason for joining me is to have their testosterone checked, hoping I will help them to boost their testosterone to the high normal range. I was thinking of having my staff tell prospective patients when they call that I don’t treat testosterone myself, but would be referring them to endocrine.