Physicians typically generate business plans at two junctures in their practice’s development — when they want loans, or when they want start-up capital. In other words, physicians tend to get serious about a business plan only when they need to go to a bank and ask for money. Knowing the key elements of a business plan will help you construct an effective, comprehensive plan for your medical practice.

Key Elements

What are the key elements of a good business plan? It typically contains four parts:

• Business Description
  Essentially, this is your medical practice’s mission statement. It could consist of a single sentence, such as, “[T]o run a single-practitioner family medicine practice,” or “[T]o run a single-practitioner orthopedic surgery practice focusing on sports and athletic medicine.”Those examples are rather bare bones. Therefore, it is a good idea to include more details on your intended practice structure, whether you plan to have a partner and whom you expect your target patient population to be. Include your CV or a paragraph with a few more details on how you expect to fulfill your mission.

• Marketing Plan
  Marketing is a never-ending aspect of running a business, though it carries even more weight when you are starting up your practice. Plan on developing a website and being on social media. Connect to professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn. Make sure you connect with local physicians and introduce yourself as a potential referral doctor. Based on your practice’s focus, you may even want to visit nursing homes or sporting events, or wherever your targeted group of patients might be.In addition, ask any hospital with which you are affiliated to help you market your practice. Pharmaceutical vendors and/or representatives also often assist with marketing efforts. An open house can be another way to introduce your practice to the community.

• Financial Budgets
  Start-up medical practices need a budget for the business and household. Generally, new practices require about six months of working capital for both the business and the household. The household budget includes how much money you need to live on for six months, including rent or mortgage, taxes, insurance and food. Be generous with yourself, because it is better to estimate on the high end and have more than you need rather than less.The business budget is more complicated and requires you to make decisions about your practice. For example, if you plan to perform surgery, you will need a surgery suite. This will require a larger space and a bigger budget that includes equipment and staff. After you decide the appropriate number of staff, you will need to determine how much to pay them and what types of benefits you will offer.A specialized consultant can help with many of these decisions. A pro forma budget covering expenses and income for the first year makes sense, but it is important to project funds for several years in advance as well.

Staffing Strategy

Management includes you, of course, but the biggest part of your job is to see patients. You will likely need someone to manage your office. Thinking this through will help define your practice, which also will affect your budget. Some questions to ask are:

• Will you hire an office manager or administrator or act as your own — at least at first?
• Will you have one or more nurses?
• Will you have physician assistants or nurse practitioners, and how many?
• Will the staff be part-time or full-time?

Your decisions will affect pay and budget. You will likely need to revisit these questions over time as your practice grows.

That is a plan

These are just the most basic elements of a business plan. You can use them to establish the direction of your practice and calculate how much money you will need to start operating. By getting professional advice, generating a business plan early and revisiting it as your practice changes, you will be able to stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving business.

For more information, contact Amanda Gutierrez at [email protected] or call her at 312.670.7444. Visit ORBA.com to learn more about our Health Care Group.
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