How to Prepare for a New Physician

Teapot Rock – 2010

Schenebly Hill Vista

Sedona, AZ

 How to Prepare Your Practice

Recent articles have discussed the sequence of proactive preparations that should be undertaken to prepare for a sale of your practice. Beyond personal and professional readiness, the most recent of these, focuses on preparing your practice. This series of preparations apply to a classic succession or a sale to a financial organization such as a family office. 

Once these are concluded, the next item is to prepare the practice for the introduction of the new physician. These preparations are similar for either method of his arrival to your practice.

The benefits of preparing your practice for a new physician in advance of publicly announcing your plans are two-fold. One, is that there are a variety of matters to consider that should be integrated into the preparation and execution of your plan. The second is that it is essential that you be able to convey to a prospective buyer that you have already prepared yourself, your staff and your practice generally, to welcome him. A prospect will have many questions that you can reasonably anticipate. You can demonstrate a great deal of goodwill by being able to show the actions to have taken to be ready to welcome him to your practice. 

Here are some examples for you to think about.

Core Considerations

Early on, it is essential for you to have considered questions such as:

• How long you will practice.
• Whether to stop practicing gradually or completely. 
• Your role as leader of your transition. 
• Your role as leader and mentor to a younger surgeon. 
• The expectations you have of your colleague and vice-versa.
• Type of sale: succession or sale to a financial organization such as a family office

Preparing for a New Physician

Prior to recruiting a physician or offering your practice for an outright sale, it is important to have certain tasks completed, such as:

• Completion of a set of data for a prospective buyer to undertake due diligence.
• Obtain a third-party professional valuation.
• Your description of criteria to evaluate an associate and/or family office.
• Create a timeline for recruitment, discussions and executing an agreement with either type of acquisition.

Practical Matters

There are practical items to consider as well:

• Ensure adequate physical space.
• Consider the relationship of space and scheduling, especially if you have a surgical facility. 
• Involve your staff in preparations; seek their advice.
• Evaluate staff needs.
• Designate key administrative and clinical staff to be a resource for the new plastic surgeon.
• Prepare a schedule for staff meetings that include your associate.
• Consider a schedule for physician meetings.
• Prepare a plan to support and promote your associate. 
• Plans for introducing him to your patients, physicians, health care facilities and the community. 
• Prepare for a discussion of your mutual expectations.

How Do You Both Benefit? 

The creation and execution of these plans is a sensible, sequential and practical approach that will guide you to achieve your mutual goals and benefit from them.

Without timely, proper planning, both of you will likely limit your options and find yourselves reacting to circumstances. Alternatively, a proactive approach will increase available options and provide more flexibility to adjust your mutual goals and plans as needed.

The preparation and execution of these plans will provide a clear path for both of you to benefit from a smooth start to your new practice experiences.

PS: Would you like to learn more about how to transition from your practice? I would like to assist you. I provide practice transaction services that are tailored to your specific needs. Click here to request an introductory conversation.

If you would like to learn about another way that I can guide you, check out this brief video that describes my unique online course: 

 The Practice Transition Course for Physicians. _TM     

Gulf of Mexico – 2010

Florida