Working in the medical and healthcare field is an honourable choice at any time, especially in our current climate. If you’re setting up your own practice as well, this can be tricky to navigate, but— as we’re sure you know— it will be worth it in the end.
While you’re well-versed in what you do from day to day, you can find yourself in an entirely different world when it comes to setting up your practice itself. The process can be complex and overwhelming, but the rewards are waiting for you just around the corner. To help you get started, we’ve compiled a checklist for setting up your medical practice.
Our blog explains the step by step process behind setting up a medical practice. From breaking ground to acquiring patients, we cover it all. For further information or personalised advice, please contact our experienced and knowledgeable team at Curve Accountants today.
1. Determine Your Demographic
Your new medical practice is a blank slate ready for you to tailor to your target audience’s needs. The first step is to pinpoint who that audience is. If you’re a paediatrician, your demographic will be parents of young children. If you specialise in a particular condition, think about if you would visit your practice if you were your targeted demographic.
2. Location, Location, Location
It’s also important to consider the location when you’ve narrowed down your target audience. Young families tend to live in the suburbs, while university students and young professionals are closer to the cities. You may be interested in targeting an area where property prices have been sitting steadily, or an area that’s forecast for a boom.
Additionally, conduct some research on your competitors around your target area including chemists, hospitals, and pathology labs. These will help you to determine the likelihood of your practice’s success in that location.
3. Design and Practicality
A medical practice needs to be designed with both its patients and staff in mind. Adequate parking and/or reliable public transport is key to gaining new patients and ensuring they return, and accessibility into and inside the building is crucial for anybody with mobility issues, new parents with prams, and so on.
You’ll also need to plan space for medical storage and equipment, administration, data points, on-site servers, and all of the other technical equipment you’ll need. Natural lighting is important for both patient and staff mental wellbeing, as well as for diagnosing certain visible conditions such as jaundice.
4. Gather Supplies
Now that you have space for the equipment and supplies you’ll need, you need to fill that space. You can lower your overhead by acquiring equipment from retiring doctors or overstocked hospitals, giving you more room in the budget for the upcoming steps.
To start off with, we recommend obtaining clinical equipment such as stethoscopes, blood pressure monitors, and exam tables. Next up is medical consumables such as disinfectant, gloves, syringes, and bandages. From here you can focus on the office staples like papers and pens, prescription pads, and filing systems, and uniform needs like lab coats and name tags.
5. Integrate Technology
IT is an integral part of running a medical practice. Between phone systems, Internet connections, and all the various types of software you’ll need, we recommend looking for an IT provider with experience in the healthcare industry to make this process as smooth as possible.
6. Business and Financials
Ensure your accreditation is valid and up to date and that you register for insurance that suits your needs. When it comes to structuring your medical practice, an industry specialist can be your saving grace.
An industry specialist in medical accounting services, such as our team at Curve Accountants, can help you to sort through all of the forms, requirements, and regulations you’ll need to navigate. You’ve got enough to handle, and we’ve got the experience in accounting for doctors, dentists, and a wide variety of medical professionals.
7. Find Your Team
When you’ve started recruiting team members, you know your practice is about to open its doors! You have a better idea than anybody else of who you need in your team, but in general you’ll need to start off with reception staff, nurses, payroll managers, IT consultants, a business manager, a practice manager, and any other specialised staff for your practice.
8. Advertise and Open Up
Promoting your practice is the last step you’ll need to take before opening your doors to your patients. Developing an online presence is always a great idea, as is getting involved with the local community. This will allow you to establish relationships with your target market, and you can never underestimate the power of good word of mouth advertising.
Choose Curve Accountants For Your Medical Practice
As medical and healthcare accounting professionals, our team at Curve Accountants bring the knowledge and expertise your new medical practice needs. When you want an accountant who knows how to work with the intricacies of your industry, you want an accountant who understands no two practices are the same. We work with you as an individual and can help with bookkeeping, retirement planning, tax assessment, Superannuation strategies, and more.
For further information or to book an appointment in Melbourne, Geelong, or Moorabbin, feel free to get in contact with us to get your practice off on the right financial path.
