By Jeffrey A. Moody, M.D., El Paso County Medical Society President
Practice Viability
Those two words may strike fear into your heart, give you a warm fuzzy feeling like a cozy blanket, or may just be two mysterious words that mean very little. As the “leader” of your medical society, I feel I would be remiss if I did not address this issue for our members.
So, what in the world is practice viability? It definitely means different things to different people, but, in general, means what is the future likelihood that your practice or employer will continue to operate in such a financial manner so as to provide you with a vehicle to practice medicine, a livelihood, and an outlet for personal and professional growth and education.
OK, so that’s a mouthful. What does it really mean? I think the meaning of viability really depends on your interest in and knowledge of the business aspects of your practice. For some, viability means more money in the bank than expenses at the end of the month. For others, it means a long-term, strategic financial plan for growth and capital expenditure, allowing for legislative, payer and technological changes for the next twenty years. But, a basic knowledge of the financial algebra of your practice will allow you to be a successful practicing physician for as long as you desire.
Where do we start? First, you went to medical school, residency, fellowship, etc., for many years to learn how to be a great doctor. Not much, or perhaps zero, time was spent on your business education. That’s OK. One of the reasons I became a doctor was to ‘avoid’ that ‘business stuff’. Well, 15 years later, I am knee-deep in it, and had to do a lot of self-education. However, for those of you who do not wish to or do not have the time to learn all the ‘business stuff’, then you have to find, hire and trust people smarter than you to help you with the business aspects of your practice.
Another aspect of this which is hard for most doctors is that we are smart. We have always been at the tops of our classes, first, magna cum laude…, but we never went to business school, so we don’t have the education to be smart about business. It is hard to admit to ourselves that:
A. We don’t know something.
B. We might need help or have to find someone smarter than us about something in which we are not experts.
That’s OK. It’s a 12 step program, and the first step is realizing you have a problem. Repeat after me: “I don’t know everything about everything, including how to manage my practice.” There, see, that didn’t hurt a bit, did it?
If you can really acknowledge your own strengths and weaknesses, you are now more than 50% of the way on to a healthier, happier practice and a strong, consistent bottom line.
Next time, we will get into the nitty gritty of how to make this happen. Cheers,
