Is your practice growing by leaps and bounds, and you can’t keep up with the demand from new patients? Have you been considering, or are you looking to expand into other service offerings or open another location? Or Are you becoming burned out and frustrated by administrative demands cutting into your time with patients? For whatever reason, it may be time to consider hiring another medical provider to your practice. Here are some questions to ask yourself first.
Once you’ve decided you need another provider and what type of provider your practice needs, the recruitment, interview, and hiring process should be just as thorough, if not more, than for any other employee. “Bringing on an associate is a significant decision not unlike hiring an employee, but with higher stakes,” stated Cohen & Co. CPA firm in the article, “Bring It On: Adding an Associate or Partner to Your Physician Practice,” which discusses practical business and financial issues to consider during this hiring process.
Since we are on the topic of hiring a new provider for your practice, let’s dive into the question of what are you adding? What’s going to bring more value to your practice? What’s cheaper or financially would make sense for you? This part of the process is somehow crucial for small or solo practices. For instance, in a solo doctor practice with a surgery center, hiring a second M.D. and surgeon is wise since it provides a succession plan and allows you to better hedge against the loss of an existing M.D., whether due to disability, retirement, or other reasons.
In other cases, it makes more sense to add a non-physician provider (NPP), such as a physician assistant or nurse practitioner, and nowadays, we even have Virtual Registered Nurses too. “These providers can handle many of the routine issues at a much lower salary than a physician, allowing the doctors to focus on more complex (and higher-reimbursement) issues,” according to Physicians Practice. Hiring NPPs pays off: More than 50 percent of office-based solo practices, single-specialty groups, and multi-specialty groups who use NPs and PAs said these clinicians helped increase their profitability, according to the 2019 Medscape Physician Compensation Report.
The solo practice doctor is on the verge of extinction, many industry experts have long predicted. Yet other experts say independent practices are making a comeback. Whichever should we believe right? We need to see proper statistics for this and not just mere hearsay. “For every solo practice that chooses to close its doors, there are many more that continue to stand their ground, pretty much as they have for the last 50 years,” reported The Independent Pediatrician.
While the freedom of solo practice is a huge perk for many doctors, there are challenges associated with going it alone—burnout being a big one. Solo doctors need to be innovative and consider ways to provide high-quality patient care while not sacrificing their wellbeing. Whether that means investing in time- and money-saving technology, hiring non-physician providers, or other solutions, here’s what successful solo practitioners are doing.
As of this year, an online survey of doctors revealed a physician burnout rate of 44 percent. This isn’t a good situation for anyone involved. Somehow, this workload needs to be pared down because a healthy workforce is essential to improving patient outcomes and attaining national healthcare goals. Hiring more Healthcare professionals to your organization or your practice and Outsourcing the Hiring process is one of the most effective ways to address this issue. You are reducing overall head costs and expenses without sacrificing quality patient care.
At the end of the day, you are the one who will have to decide whether or not you can, or if you should add a new Medical Provider to your practice. You have your pros and cons. You can weigh your situation and choose the best possible way for your practice to improve. To be more efficient. To have a better workflow where you can also have the luxury of taking care of your wellbeing as a healthcare professional.
When you decide to hire another Medical Provider to your practice, go ahead and book your Free No-Obligation Consultation with us. No hassle recruitment, while getting the best candidates in the industry.
Recent Comments