One of the most important things each private practice owner gets to decide is which patients they likely can help—and which patients they cannot.

Of course, so much of this boils down to the level of expertise, training, and personal interest in particular style of practice. For some, it’s IM. For many of us, it is Family Med plus helping the 25% of the population who suffer from some form of chronic pain.

Treating your selected patients requires considerable skill and expertise, especially when employing new treatment methods. Because there are so many new advances, it requires considerable skill and investment of time to stay clinically proficient. 

As you probably have already figured out, it also generally requires significant time financial investments to learn the skills and purchase equipment required to help these patients get their lives back.

Keep in mind you’re doing this in the background of a public health care system which is literally failing patients and falling apart at the seams thanks to our federal government’s marriage to big pharma and insurance industries.

But private practice is different; you still get to call the shots. Therefore it’s imperative at this particular point in time if you have not already decided who your ideal patient is, to do so immediately.

Next, you must communicate this clearly and frequently to all your staff. Also, it’s imperative this comes across clearly in your marketing messages.

Lastly, it’s incumbent upon you to decide who to let in the practice, and whom you refer elsewhere.

This is relatively easy to do simply by implementing guidelines and systems for yourself and team members to follow. This is where cultivating a precise complimentary referral network to your practice can also go a long way towards cementing yourself as a specialist in your community.

Practicing consciously in this way will allow you to be much happier, and, ultimately, get more patients better—efficiently.

But don’t wait until it’s too late. Every day, I hear from private practice owners that wish they had made these decisions years ago.

Time has a way of moving very quickly. The sooner you act, the happier and more prosperous you will be in private practice!