Professional Management and Marketing is one of the few consulting
firms in the nation that have been cumulatively accepted by all of the following
into their consultant panels for consulting to their physician-members on starting
and running medical practices:
American Medical Association
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American College of Physicians / American Society of Internal Medicine (until
the consultant program was disbanded)
We also teach medical practice start-up for the AAD Resident Program, AAAAI,
and the California Academy of Family Physicians. We have given numerous seminars
on the topic at national, state and local conferences, and have authored many
articles on this and related topics
Hundreds of references are available, and we have worked successfully with many
specialties to start practices.
Our consultants authored two national-standards-setting books published by McGraw
Hill; The Medical Practice Forms Book; and the Medical Practice
Pre-Employment Tests Book, both important to start-up practices. Keith
Borglum has also authored a book on practice valuation for purchases and buy-ins,
available at PRS.
We also provide consultation on most of the problems and issues faced by physicians
in private practice, excluding tax, law and financial planning. We also do not
do coding and fee-setting, but refer those topics to very efficient lower-cost
consultants that specialize in those areas.
Some consultation that you might have need for are:
PRACTICE START-UP ONE-DAY CONSULT is ideally performed at least
four months in advance of the start date, and the earlier the better (even though
some practices come to us months after starting up!). It involves an
intensive full-day meeting with the doctor(s) making as many decisions as possible
regarding practice start-up and operations. Templates are customized for a business
plan; an employee handbook; staffing and hiring: billing and collections; office
brochure; general ledger/accounting; and most forms needed to run the practice.
Preliminary marketing strategies are discussed and planned. A checklist and
calendar of pre-start-up activities are prepared and reviewed in detail. The
doctor is referred to pre-screened specialists for business loans (easy-qualifying
loans available to $200,000), fee-setting, superbill creation, tax and legal
requirements. A practice budget is established using specialty reference data;
financial policies determined; often a computer or billing service selected;
and all physician-questions answered.
The one-day consult on practice start-up can be at your location or ours. Solo
or two-physician practices usually come to us, but have us come to them if three
or more physicians are involved. We budget all day for the consult, but only
bill you for the time used (if at our offices). If you have zero private-practice
experience and are starting from scratch, plan on 8-10 hours in consult. If
you have some private practice experience, or have a lot of preparation already
completed, it could take as little as 4 hours in consult. Every consult is customized
to the needs of the client. Physicians fly in from all over the country to meet
with us for our one-day consult.
You will leave the consult with far greater confidence in the process
of opening your practice, with a detailed plan to follow.
We are available therafter anytime by phone, email, or visit for further support.
Typical Time: 6-10 hours at our offices, plus travel if we come to you instead
TRAVEL
United Airlines flies into San Francisco and Oakland airports nearby, and there
are hourly shuttles to Santa Rosa, a 2 hour trip. Driving a rental car takes
about 75-100 minutes depending on traffic. Santa Rosa is in the heart of the
Sonoma Wine Country, and one hour north of San Francisco. Many clients book
a consult on Friday and spend the weekend in the wine country or San Francisco
"studying notes about practice start up", making the whole visit tax
deductible, as activities in planning to open a business are tax-deductible
(ask your CPA - or read the book Small Time Operator).
Other related consults available:
PRACTICE START-UP OR TAKE-OVER IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT, occurs
after the Start-Up Consult or Practice Purchase and includes weekly meetings
with doctor and/or staff to make sure the practice is started and run correctly.
Meetings can be in person or by phone. Meetings continue until two clean month-end
financial reports are generated, greatly reducing chances of failure. This also
provides insurance to the seller of a practice that the new doctor will continue
to be successful until pay-off of the seller financing. Retainer agreements
also include all support activities by the consultant when not in meetings,
such as research or staff-hiring.
Retainers: typically $1,900 per month for a solo practice.
Hourly: by phone or meeting
PRACTICE PURCHASE APPRAISAL Buying a practice is very cost-effective
if the price is right. We do original market-comparison appraisals, second opinions,
and expert-witness testimony for court-cases. We participate in the National
Goodwill Registry and are members of the Institute of Business Appraisers. More
info is available on our website. Appraisals typically take 10-20 hours, excluding
travel which often can be avoided.
PRACTICE SALE SUPPORT, meeting with both the buyer and seller
together to facilitate decision-making on all the details of transitioning the
practice from one to the other, including the terms of sale for the agreement
to be drawn by an attorney. This reduces misunderstandings, unresolved issues
and attorney fees.
Typical Time: 2-4 hours on site or by conference call
MERGERS AND GROUP FORMATIONS: We offer a one-day intensive
session with the merging parties to structure the transaction and how operations
will function post-merger. This can be combined with a Practice Startup Consult
if appropriate. Pre-meeting practice evaluations are another option.
Fees are hourly typically taking 5-8 hours, plus travel if required.
Fees are typically $240 per hour. Annual evaluation of competitor rates at our
level of expertise finds rates ranging from $180-$450 per hour. We have chosen
to keep our rates at the low-end and charge for all activities, including travel,
rather than have higher fees and not charge for travel. Since we work on a national
basis, we feel this is fairer to the individual client as local clients do not
subsidize the costs of remote clients. Clients are usually given the opportunity
to meet at our offices rather than theirs to avoid our hourly travel costs.
Our location in the Sonoma Wine Country one hour north of San Francisco lends
itself well to mixed business/pleasure trips for consults at our offices. The
money saved by not having us travel to you will pay for a nice weekend here.
More information is available on our
home page.
We can provide many, many references in addition to those
posted on our website. Give us a call to talk about any special needs, or
to schedule an appointment, at 707-546-4433.
Sincerely,
Keith Borglum his CV
and Diane Cate her info
Professional Management and Marketing
3468 Piner Rd, Santa Rosa CA 95401-3954
ph 707-546-4433 fax 707-546-4437
http://www.MedicalPracticeManagement.com
email kborglum@practicemgmt.com