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1. hiring an assistant - people have already started sending me resumes, and they all look qualified, but i've heard so many nightmares. Any way to weed out the duds? Any questions that I must ask?
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Hold off. There is no need to hire an assistant until an assistant can actually save you money and trouble. When you first start you won't be busy enough to use one and you will be paying for someone to sit around.
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2. I'm worried that when I start I'll be getting all the crap cases that nobody else wants; all those high risk, complicated patients. The ones with the high complication rates. I don't want my first cases to be really tough and have all sorts of complications - don't want that reputation in the beginning. The surgeons that are there currently keep telling me about these cases they are "saving for me" and they are all potential disasters!
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This is true if you are moving to an area with other established surgeons. If I were you I would pick an area where you are known, have family etc. The other option would be to move out to the middle of nowhere where a surgeon is actually needed. I see a lot of your practice coming from ER referrals. That sucks.
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3. EMR - i'm computer illiterate but think i should probably have an electronic medical record in my office. There are a mind-boggling number of companies out there and choosing one seems impossible (i've asked around the city i'm going and none of the surgeons currently use an EMR, just some GPs and their systems aren't really applicable to a referral based practice).
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Again I would hold off. If no one else is using it maybe there is a reason. I am using paper charts myself right now and I will continue to do so until an EMR will save me time and money.
Everything that you spend money on for your practice needs to be something that is going to improve your productivity and make your life better. Best of luck.
The thing I would do right now if I were you is get all signed up for insurances. That is a ton of work and takes a lot of time.