PracticeCare

So, you need to hire a financial advisor but you don’t know anything about managing money and assets. Or, you already have a financial advisor but you’re not sure if they’re a good fit. How do you figure it out? Ask great questions! What questions do you ask? My guest today is a financial advisor to doctors and dentists who own their own practices, and he’ll give us the questions he thinks are use...

Public relations has its place in the marketing plan of private practices. The problem I’ve found is that quality public relations often costs more than most practices can allocate, but the quality affordable public relations is too bad to use. Is there a sweet spot, and how do you find it and use it? My guest today helps small businesses do just that, and he’ll help us understand it. Mickie Kenne...

When you go into practice with someone, you should consider the relationship like a professional marriage. Your partnership agreement needs to support that relationship no matter how it turns out, but many do not. What are the essential elements of a good partnership agreement?  E.J. Cyran has spent over a decade as a healthcare lawyer, which means he represents physicians, dentists and their prac...

Taking insurance for payment is painful, and the pain starts immediately with credentialing. There is a maximum speed that credentialing can go, but you really need to know what you’re doing. My guest today helps providers all over the country get credentialed, and he’ll give us a taste of what it takes to go maximum speed. David Zetter is the founder and President of Zetter HealthCare, LLC in Mec...

When selling your practice, a fair price is not necessarily the price you set or the price you need. It’s a good to have an idea of a fair price for your practice before you start the selling process. My guest helps his clients wrap their arms around this concept, and he’ll explain it to us. Joe Lessard is a partner at Professional Business Management, a healthcare practice management and accounti...

Of all of the business concepts not taught in any school for healthcare providers, the CEO mindset might be the most glaring gap. However, the moment you open a practice you are a CEO. Don’t fight it or ignore it or hope nobody notices. Instead, shift your mindset to include it.  Lisa Levesque is the principal and Business & Executive Coach at Breakthrough Business Strategies with a focus on healt...

Gaining traction in the private practice segment is the medical service organization. They’re not new, but what is still a little new is that private practices are becoming owners of them, not just private equity. That means the MSO is a vehicle to stay independent. What is it? Is it a good move for you?  Bob Whittemore is a consultant in the Healthcare Services Group with WebsterRodgers, an accou...

A brand is more than some people think, but simpler than a lot of people think, all at the same time. It’s way more than a logo, but boils down to a promise you make to your patients. Problem is, so many practices think it’s more and miss the simplicity.  Ashley Gay is the founder of Digital Ash Agency, a boutique healthcare branding firm that helps physicians launch and grow independent practices...

Would anyone argue that staff need training? Probably not, but if I lined up 10 practice owners with staff and asked them how many have systematized their training, I bet only a couple would say they have. If you want your staff trained well in the most effective and efficient way possible, then you need to build a system to do so. Dr. Corey Malnikof does just that in his practices, and he shared...

It’s another episode talking about useful AI tools in private practice. My guest today consults to private practices on a variety of operational issues, so he’s seeing the landscape in real time. Adam Middleton has committed his entire professional career to healthcare, working at for profit and not for profit hospitals and as a consultant to physicians and healthcare related businesses. Since 200...

When should you drop an insurance carrier? It can be a scary concept, so how do you think through it? My guest today is a principal at an accounting firm focused on private practices. He helps his clients think through this question, among others, and he’ll share his thinking with us. Joe Lessard is a partner at Professional Business Management, a healthcare practice management and accounting firm...

Should you ever upgrade your practice’s retirement plan? When? Why? My guest today works with practice owners on financial planning and insurance, including retirement, and he’ll help us figure this out. Drew Powers is the Founder of Powers Financial Group, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. He specializes in advanced insurance and investment strategies for doctors. Drew is 100% independent, he...

How do you combat employee turnover when, as a private practice, you have a hard time paying what larger competitors can pay? My guest today is a partner in a primary care practice. She’s living this question, and she’ll share what they do with us. Katie Nunn, MBA, CMPE, provides training and coaching for healthcare leaders and their organizations on process improvement, financial optimization, an...

As you prepare to sell your practice, have you factored in the HR side? The people, the policies, and on and on? Most don’t, but you should. How do you do that? My guest today is an experienced HR professional, and she’ll explain what that all means. Debbie Rabishaw has more than thirty years of HR leadership experience, much of it in healthcare and healthcare-related practices. She partners with...

If you believe that making anything work better takes regular attention, then you believe it for your own practice. Doing a periodic practice assessment is healthy and worth it, but where do you start? What do you focus on? My guest today helps his clients do practice assessments, and he’ll answer these questions for us. David Zetter is the founder and President of Zetter HealthCare, LLC in Mechan...

If you think your practice’s IT systems are secure because you have the latest tech, think again. If you bemoan the existence of hackers and wonder what you can do, keep listening. It’s not the hackers or your tech, it’s the people in your practice. My guest today helps organizations from small practices to Fortune 500s know what they can do to avoid the biggest security scams threatening them, an...

Just because a patient is in your practice does not mean they’ll listen to you or like you, and you need both if they’re going to follow your treatment recommendations. You need to build rapport, and build it quickly. How do you do that? My guest today is in a specialty where good rapport is especially important. She’ll share some of her secrets with us. Tina Musselman is a Registered Dietitian Nu...

Many private practice owners report examples of losing good staff because they couldn’t match the compensation of a competitive offer. If compensation at a private practice is generally lower than at larger competitors like hospitals or health systems, what can you do? My guest today helps his private practice clients work through this, and he has some ideas for us. Mike Lyons is an HR Consultant...

Our topic today is hiring good people as a small practice. My guest and I don’t have definitive answers, but we do have our own experiences – her as a practice owner, and me as a small business owner. Today is a discussion of our experiences and ideas. As with every episode of PracticeCare®, we hope it helps you out. Mary Lou Savino has been practicing physical therapy since 1992 and opened Be Fit...

On this podcast we’ve had numerous guests talk about business systems – why they’re needed and why they’re valuable. You’re sold, but what goes into a good system? Today we’re tackling the essential ingredients with a consultant who helps his clients develop them. Dr. Ervin, a Fellow of Systems Wisdom, is a nurse executive, entrepreneur, legal nurse consultant, and retired U.S. Army officer with o...

Many physicians know about Direct Primary Care (DPC) and Concierge Primary Care on a surface level, but what about when you go under the hood? How do they work? Which model is better for you? My guest today helps his clients sort these questions out, and he’ll give us his insights. Bob Whittemore is a consultant in the Healthcare Services Group with WebsterRodgers, based in South Carolina. Bob has...

There’s a saying in business: if you’re not growing, you’re dying. I personally don’t believe it but it’s popular. One way to grow is to add more locations. Is it a good idea for you? My guest today advises her clients on how to succeed in private practice, including when growing, and she’ll share her thoughts with us. Lisa Levesque is the principal and Business & Executive Coach at Breakthrough B...

Just because you want to sell your practice doesn’t mean anyone wants to buy it. Just because you have a price in mind doesn’t mean anyone will pay it. My guest today lived this experience herself, and now she works with clients to help them get their practice into a sellable condition. Dr. Ruth Mannschreck is a dentist, practice management strategist and Owner/Founder of Shoreline Strategies LLC....

Regular maintenance is a fact of life and never questioned. Annual physical. Change the oil in your car. Get your furnace checked out. Regular maintenance makes good sense. When is the last time you performed an annual check-up on your own practice? I’ll bet it’s been longer than a year. That’s not good. My guest today works with practices on all manor of operations, and he’ll tell us what to incl...

Running your business is stressful. Probably the biggest stressor is financial. You carry that with you, but how do you keep it at work and out of your relationships at home? My guest today is a financial advisor who works with practice owners on their business and personal finances. He sees this question in a number of his clients, and he’ll share the advice he gives to them. Randall Avery, CFP®,...