Even though medical practices do work that is beneficial for society, they still need to go through the same struggles that other businesses do. With proper planning and commitment, it can be much easier to grow your medical practice.

Introduction

Running a business is hard. You need luck, determination, hard work, and perseverance in order to even stay afloat. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nearly two-thirds of all businesses fail before they are even a decade old. 20 percent of businesses fail within their first two years and 45 percent fail before they make up five years of staying open. Only a quarter of businesses manage to stay open for 15 years or longer.

One can say that even in America, the home of capitalistic enthusiasm, running and starting a business can be incredibly hard. For the healthcare industry, the same holds true. It is not easy or quick for a healthcare business to stay afloat. Most of the healthcare organizations in the US today have come about as a result of consolidation from bigger players who have been able to mostly overcrowd smaller organizations.

But what about group practices? While group practices remain popular, they are slowly giving way to larger healthcare organizations in terms of market share. Group practices have also been facing the increasing burdens of practicing in a highly competitive healthcare industry where rising administrative, regulatory and labor costs are constantly eating into profit margins. So what can group practices do to combat this?

Growing a group medical practice

In order to sustain a group medical practice through the years, the best thing that healthcare providers can do is look for avenues to grow. Growth ensures that a group practice has a steady stream of new and old patients which allows healthcare group practices to have a steady stream of revenue. As economic cycles proceed, inflation slowly increases and inputs get expense, a business will find that its margins slowly decline. In order to keep up, a group practice can either look for more patients or increase its rates.

But in doing so, a healthcare practice also needs to examine its business environment for potential threats to its longevity. There are certain common factors that cause most businesses to fail. Despite being a medical practice, healthcare providers should understand that their practice at the end of the day is a business.

6 best ways to grow

Here are the 6 best methods to make your healthcare practice grow.

Outsource the unwanted

In a business setting, there are certain tasks that you are good at and certain tasks that you need to do yourself. All tasks that fall outside of these Venn diagrams should be handled by someone else whose time is worth those tasks. As a physician, you cannot let yourself be overwhelmed by administrative paperwork.

And this advice doesn’t just cover administrative tasks but more skilled niche tasks like marketing and sales. If you don’t have expertise in those skills, then let a professional handle those for your medical practice.

Attract more physicians

As a group practice, your capital is constrained by the number of other physicians that are associated with your practice. Your ability to grow your panel of patients is similarly restricted to the number of healthcare professionals at your business. If you are looking to grow, then growing the number of members at your practice is also an important strategy.

Business plans and processes

Without a business plan, your practice can flounder aimlessly. The same is true for the staff in your practice without codified processes. Make a plan for your business (or let an expert do it) based on your goals, and ensure that you follow it for long enough to see what the results show. Change your strategy and make sure you are constantly adapting.

Don’t ignore marketing

Physicians and healthcare professionals often underestimate the importance of marketing for healthcare businesses. Whether it’s digital or traditional, marketing allows healthcare practitioners to reach and attract a wider audience, improving patient acquisition rates.

Focus on the patients

Make sure that most of your productive time is spent on and with the patients. Patients prefer group practices for the very fact that they spend longer times with the attending professionals, so make sure that you fulfill these expectations at every moment. The more you delegate, the more time you free up for consultations without sacrificing your work-life balance.

Improve experiences

Improved patient experiences will automatically lead to better patient acquisition and retention rates. But improving experiences can be tough. One of the first places to look at is improving your communication with patients and also reducing wait times.

Conclusion

Growing a group medical practice can be a tough job. Managing the medical and administrative responsibilities while also working on making a business is a demanding task that sets up most folks for failure. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Through the proper use of the modern tools that are available to us, healthcare professionals can grow their medical practices relatively easier.

Digital solutions have transformed the healthcare industry and it is time for physicians to adopt these tools to make their businesses grow faster. Group medical practices a vital role in the healthcare industry for both patients and physicians. Patient benefits of a group medical practice are numerous and make for better healthcare experiences. That’s why they are so important.

BraveLabs works with group practices of all sizes to help them become more profitable and sustainable. Learn more about what your business can achieve with custom digital marketing solutions with us. Contact us today.