After finishing those many long years of college, medical school, and residencies, you may be finally doing what you always dreamed of doing for a career, which is practicing medicine. However, you may want to strike out on your own and establish your own practice. Before doing so, there are many things you need to consider to ensure you don’t encounter unexpected and costly problems once you begin your practice. To ensure success, here are five things you should know before opening your own practice.
You’ll Need Plenty of Funding
Like any business, your medical practice will need funding for startup costs. From buying a building and equipment to hiring staff and much more, you may want to explore getting a small-business loan from the Small Business Administration, especially if you are still paying off student loans from medical school.
Buy an Existing Practice
Rather than try to start your practice from scratch, you may be much better off if you instead look to buy an existing practice. This can be a great idea if you find a practice where the current doctor is retiring since it will already have staff, equipment, and a sizable patient load that you can inherit. If you do this, chances are you will save thousands of dollars.
Sign Up for Medicare and Medicaid
As the U.S. population gets older and more people are also relying on Medicaid, make sure your practice is signed up to participate in these programs. Once you do, also make sure you have back office healthcare operations software to handle the insurance end of things and ensure claims are submitted to the government in a timely and correct manner. Otherwise, you may have problems getting reimbursed for your services.
Choose a Business Structure
Before opening your practice, choose the proper business structure. This can be incorporating your practice, establishing a partnership agreement if other doctors will be working with you, or other legal details that will need to be ironed out. To do so, always work with a health care attorney who knows the ins and outs of starting a medical practice.
Get Licensing and Insurance
Finally, always have the proper licensing and malpractice insurance you will need to practice in your state. Invariably, most doctors at some point get sued for malpractice, so have this in place from day one. Along with your state medical license, also have DEA registration so that you can legally write prescriptions.
By taking care of these details, you can focus on providing the best possible care to your patients.
About the Author
Anica is a professional content and copywriter who graduated from the University of San Francisco. She loves dogs, the ocean, and anything outdoor-related. She was raised in a big family, so she’s used to putting things to a vote. She recommends this company when it comes to back office healthcare operations software.
