From being transparent to the proper Medicare setup, here are five important solo practice recommendations Becker's has heard from physicians across the nation this year.
"Be fair and transparent — don't price gouge. If you've been in practice long enough, you know what you're getting paid from insurance and you know what you think is fair. So for rotator tear costs, I have a small, medium, large and massive fee schedule. If I get into a medium-size tear and I already charged the patient and it's way worse, I don't change the [price]. That's my risk for not being able to figure that out ahead of time. I'm fair and transparent with everything. I turn a lot of people away from surgery who are willing to pay because I don't think they need it. … Over time, that reputation gets even stronger." — David Bailie, MD, owner of Scottsdale-based Arizona Institute for Sports Knees and Shoulders.
"In hindsight, what would I tell myself seven years ago before I went into private practice? Not everyone who says they can help you are good at what they're doing or have your best interest at heart. Be very skeptical. Check out the bonafides. You want to hire slowly and fire quickly if an employee isn't not working out. Make sure you have all your ducks in order before you open your doors. Make sure if you're going to be in Medicare, that your Medicare application is completely set up before you start. That's the advice I would have. Make sure you can have all your ducks in order. Make sure you have a mentor. Make sure you have somebody who doesn't feel threatened by you, but would want to help you. Definitely make sure that you have the stomach for it because it is a lot of work." — Arthur Jenkins, III, MD, private practice owner in New York City.
"Develop a practice that treats everyone like family. At our practice, we prioritize a compassionate and holistic approach to patient care. Family is important and we try to treat our patients just as we’d treat our own family members. Whether it's a surgical technique approach or other modalities of treatment. We see patients and we try multiple treatment modalities that are non-surgical to see if we can avoid the surgical aspect of the treatment. Only when nonsurgical treatments fail to provide relief and the patient's well-being is significantly compromised do we discuss surgical intervention." — Yoav Ritter, DO, practitioner at HCA Florida University Hospital in Davie.
"The current employment model will drive the talented physicians with a bit of appetite for risk to private practice. The challenge is that each physician is trading in a comfortable [employed] position, albeit with limited autonomy, for potential financial risk. Keeping a practice open will take more effort to comply with government regulations and reporting, so reducing the burden may help. Unlike employment, an independent physician will have to take more charge of the customer service and management aspects. This may affect work-life balance in the short term; long-term survival will depend upon creation of avenues for passive income, although this may be challenging in certain states in which regulations may empower hospitals over smaller practices on building ancillaries such as ASCs. Ultimately, insurers may need to step in, as care in an ASC is cheaper than in the hospital for the majority of private practice patients. Eventually, building and monetizing the equity of the practice should be enough to incentivize physicians to seek alternatives to employment." — Gabriel Ionescu, MD, gastroenterologist at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in New York City.
"Being in private practice, competing with hospital systems and private equity-backed groups is always a challenge. Direct-to-consumer marketing has been a vital strategy to our practice. Our efforts in social media marketing and SEO have improved our web presence and brand awareness. We always make it a point with new patients to discuss how they found us. At the end of the day, patients drive their own care; so even if they are known to hospital systems, the moment they want to explore their care elsewhere – they can and they do! With the challenges of insurance and healthcare strain across the country, patients are looking for accessible, timely care with providers who listen. Some patients are even looking for newer options and cutting edge technology which may not even be available in hospital systems or health systems given the processing time. Our interventional pain group trained outside of the central Ohio area, thus our training and offerings differ from our counterparts. We use marketing and advertising to showcase our skillset and discuss alternative interventions that may not have been discussed with patients. The hope is that we not only increase awareness of our services but also educate patients on their options for care. For being a little bit more than a year out, our practice shows up on the first page of many common pain conditions and it shows." — Taif Mukhdomi, MD, pain physician of Pain Zero.