TMA
practice setup
services
TMA Practice Consulting setup services include:
• Creating a financial business plan,
• Office site selection assistance,
• Vendor and technol- ogy selection, and
• Staff recruiting and training.
Contact a TMA
consultant today at (800) 523-8776. Visit
www.consulting
.texmed.org.
ing the leap more realistic, and the two started the process of transition- ing to a private practice. Drs. Owens and Grady are part of
a trend noted in past TMA physician surveys. Previous research shows most physicians start practice as group employees and subsequently buy in or leave to open their own prac- tices. (See “Starting Practice Type by Physician Age,” page 36.) For Dr. Owens, that meant leaving
the Central Austin pediatric group where she’d been practicing for seven years.
When physicians like Dr. Owens do
opt to leave a group setting and start a private practice, they often face the challenge of setting up the new prac- tice while still working at their group practice. With numerous legal, staff- ing, and real estate hurdles to face in establishing a practice, many physi- cians have found Texas Medical Asso- ciation Practice Consulting an invalu- able tool that can save time, money, and energy. TMA Practice Consulting setup
services include creating a business plan, office site selection assistance, vendor and technology selection, and staff recruiting and training. (See “TMA Practice Setup Services,” at left.) Dr. Owens says she knew about
TMA Practice Consulting from adver- tising and through personal relation- ships. Together, she and Dr. Grady met with the TMA Practice Consult- ing team to begin the process of tak- ing a private practice from concept to reality.
Their new practice, Grow Pediat-
rics & Adolescent Medicine, has been open since December, and the practice has been taking off. Dr. Owens says they both had some good referrals, and their commitment to patient care has helped bring in other new patients. “When we met with TMA Practice Consulting together for the first time, they had already developed a pretty involved pro forma, not only dem- onstrating how much money we’d have to take out in the loan but very
34 TEXAS MEDICINE July 2015
detailed expenditures on every item from attorneys’ fees to credentialing fees,” Dr. Owens said. “They were also encouraging, and that was a huge part of it. Just hearing stories of other phy- sicians who had done the same thing and were happy made me feel like if they can do it, we can too.”
HAVE A PLAN Some physicians opt to get help with the financial pro forma, says Megan Odell, a TMA practice consultant. But many then decide to continue con- tracting with TMA Practice Consult- ing for help with the entire setup. A pro forma is a comprehensive three- year financial business plan that in- cludes all start-up expenses, operating expenses, and cash flow projections. (See “Ask a TMA Consultant: Practice Setup,” opposite page.) “The biggest piece at the beginning
of the process is that financial pro forma,” Ms. Odell said. “Even among physicians who call and are consid- ering going into a solo practice, they haven’t sometimes thought through the numbers, including things like having a contingency fund in case of an emergency. Really having an un- derstanding of those numbers at the beginning is important.” TMA publications Policies and Pro-
cedures: A Guide for Medical Practices (tma.tips/policymanual) and OSHA Program Manual for Medical Facilities (tma.tips/oshamanual) also come with each setup consultation. The manuals help practices establish policies and procedures and stay on top of com- pliance with state and federal regula- tions.
TMA’s policies and procedures
guide can be customized to meet a practice’s needs. Physicians can tailor the publication to address the patient no-show policy and staff dress code, for example. The guide also features a HIPAA manual practices can use to help ensure they’re in compliance with privacy and security regulations.
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