It amazes me that after four years of college, four years of medical school, one intern year, three years of ophthalmology residency, one year of fellowship, and five years of academic practice that I had absolutely no idea about the business of a medical practice.
Furthermore, resources are very limited in this regard. There really isn’t a Starting Your Own Ophthalmology Practice for Dummies book out there. Many of the things I learned from friends, family, random websites from Google searches, and many times simply trial by fire. In this article I’ll try to focus on some of the main things an aspiring practitioner needs to know before embarking on starting his or her own practice.
- Find the right office: It is very important that you choose a good location and a good office space. Location should be easy for patients to find with ample, easy parking. Remember, many of our patients are elderly. Office space should be based on what type of practice you want to have, but if in doubt go for more than less square footage. Most leases are for many years, and you want to be able to accommodate for practice growth. Renewing a lease is always easy so you do not lose patients in a move, so you want to plan ahead and pick a space you could potentially use for a long time.
- Get a phone line: It is important to get a phone line prior to getting your office space. Don’t worry, you can forward the number to your mobile phone until your office space is available. Many insurance providers will want to know your office phone number, and it’s easier to do things this way than have to file forms to change your phone number down the road.
- Get a logo: It’s amazing to me that for how often a logo is used, there are many physicians with terrible logos. There are many internet sites such as 99designs.com that, for a few hundred dollars, can provide you with an outstanding customized logo. All these things will be important as you design business cards, stationary, etc.
- Hire a front desk person: This will be your most important first hire. If you don’t have a technician you can tech patients up yourself. If you don’t have a biller you can outsource it. However, you absolutely need someone in your office scheduling patients and answering phones while you’re seeing patients. You need to hire someone who meets your criteria for the type of practice you’re developing.
- Get an occupancy license: In order to practice, you need approval from your county and city. These forms are typically available on the Web, but it is important to do this in advance. You’ll probably have a fire marshal visit your office and perhaps other city officials and this may take some time. Again, this is a requirement before you can start seeing patients.
- Establish payroll: Your employees will expect to be paid on time, and they should. There are many Web-based services such as Intuit and Paychex available for small group employers. They are easy to use, but should be set up long before you need to pay your employees.
- Health insurance: If you are providing health insurance, or some financial assistance towards health insurance, and you are a small group, you are likely looking at individual insurance for your employees. While not difficult to obtain, it does take time, and again, should be looked into before you start seeing patients and employing people.
- Supplies: Close your eyes and think of everything you had in your last office. Then open your eyes and write everything down and find a company that can supply it. Akorn and PSS are both excellent large companies that can provide almost everything you’ll need for eye drops and office supplies, respectively.
- Get your contracts in place: In addition to your insurance contracts, you’ll need malpractice insurance, liability insurance for your office, a cleaning service, possibly air conditioning service, phone, electricity, internet, etc.
There are many more things that you must do before you can see patients, but listed above are many of the major requirements. While it can be stressful, it can be incredibly exciting and rewarding. Be sure to stop and enjoy the practice setup in good times and bad. As long as you believe in what you are doing, you will enjoy it.