Healthcare BusinessPut your Private Practice on a Winning Track

In the healthcare space, purpose-driven entrepreneurs are challenged by their need to scale private practices in a way that they can truly create positive change in today’s challenging healthcare environment. The key is to put patient care and ethics as a pinnacle responsibility, but build a business model that rewards the proper care in a prosperous way to achieve stability and success. Purpose, passion and prosperity should all align together.

One of the most common blunders in today’s environment is how healthcare practices are ineffective in daily operations and suffer from a multitude of inefficiencies. The end result is that the patient experience is negative and clinical outcomes are impacted. From outdated systems to a lack of operations infrastructure, many private practices aren’t empowering their workforce to optimize their productivity and clinical effectiveness on a day-to-day basis.

In order to create an operations system that drives efficiency and provides a great clinical experience, private healthcare practices need to implement these strategies:

1. Formulate a solid business plan. A challenge for many health care professionals is that they are novices to the world of business. Even after years of intensive training, most haven’t been educated in the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. The practices that go on to thrive tend to be the ones that have invested time and energy up front in clearly articulating a vision. When business planning is executed thoroughly and thoughtfully, it will transform the way care is delivered. View your business model as a vehicle to help achieve success.

2. Run a cash-flow positive practice. More often then not, practitioners feel guilty focusing on the financials of their private practice, but then end up going into debt. Many times, practitioners get into contracts with insurance companies in order to “buy business” — meaning they’re fueling growth by signing contracts — but lose track of the cash flow for those contracts. One strategy is ensuring that 60 percent of service delivery is 100 percent paid in 30 days or less. There’s not enough margin in this industry to run a practice that’s not cash flow-positive for at least 60 percent of its service delivery.

3. Align strategic goals with key performance indicators. Financial metrics are just one way to gage the performance of your practice. Other indicators, or metrics, can involve more intangible facets, such as purpose, learning, and making a difference in the world. The performance indicators that you implement should increase efficiency and effectiveness. Develop weekly, monthly and quarterly metrics. Make it a priority to create buy-in, incentivize clinical growth and motivate word-of-mount referrals through mechanisms like profit sharing and productivity incentives. Being able to tie rewards to your metrics is a recipe for success — especially when it builds on the culture of your company.

4. Maintain transparency about company goals and individual responsibilities. Modeling open and positive communication sets a precedent for team members at all levels and promotes transparency, open dialogue and collaboration. But sharing a vision isn’t enough. Consider holding monthly meetings in which the director, managers and staff provide updates, and the CEO presents a clear picture of the company’s status and the tasks at hand. By giving staff a forum in which to hear about and respond to the company’s objectives, and helping them better understand how their responsibilities fit into the goals of the organization, will motivate them to do their best.

Delivering optimum care involves optimizing the bottom line. Structuring and organizing your business systems will result in the health and well-being of your patients, your employees, and your financials.

This post has been sponsored by C.S. Lewis and Co. Publications