medical practice consulting

[dr_pepper]

Doctors go to med school to learn how to be doctors, but so many of them end up running the business side of their practice, despite the fact that they have no training in this area. It seems as though there would be a large demand for medical practice consulting services, and that an MD/MBA with experience practicing medicine would be the perfect type of person for this.

Do you guys know anything about this field? Are there already many firms out there that do this?

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[DarkChild]

a private practice is little more than a small business. how many mom and pop store owners have MBAs? 90% of the b-school curriculum would be irrelevant to small business owners.

 

[mward04]

a private practice is little more than a small business. how many mom and pop store owners have MBAs? 90% of the b-school curriculum would be irrelevant to small business owners.

I think more important than this is having good business sense and applying it to practices. I did some consulting for a surgeon's office and they were just a mess. They kept promoting their secretary until she ran the place and she was just as clueless as the day she showed up to learn how to answer the phones. Only problem is, she was now responsible for making all of the decisions for the practice and signing all of the checks.

Problem with consulting for small businesses like this is that there is not a lot of cash involved. I put my $ where my mouth is and did my work on a contingency basis which ultimately yielded me a higher return than the flat fee we initially discussed, plus it allowed me to get in the door. The other problem is that there is a lot of customization that needs to occur for small practices like this. It's almost not worth the time. Lastly, there are not a lot of high $ procedures to collect on since you are dealing with doctor's fees. Lots of low dollar claims, no bargaining power and not a lot of cash = bad situation from a consulting perspective. But then again, this is probably what got them into trouble in the first place.

More attractive for physicians offices are billing services and practice management systems. You can get a nice stream of revenue from these.

 

[Energon]

Practice management is a very big industry in the field of dentistry. Physicians and their medical practices (bar plastics, derm and other pay-for-service practices) are extremely regulated by managed care. In this case it behooves a physician to hire an administrative staff who are well versed with insurance procedures and thats all.

As for dentists and physicians providing non managed care services, an MBA can provide useful but is not necessarily required since there are MD/DMD/DDS MBA's providing their services for these practices.

However, hospital management I assume is a big business and this is where an MBA can really provide usefull. However, when one gets into this field, he/she has to pretty much relinquish most of their clinical duties.

 

[Energon]

Why on earth would you need a medical degree to do this? I think the ideal person would be someone who had worked as an office manager, had some good business sense and maybe a business degree. In fact, I know someone who became quite successful via this route.

I often see people on this forum who think that you need to be a JD/MBA/MD/accoutant to accomplish relatively basic things. In general, it is best to develop expertise in a single area and hire other experts for help. Thus, it is better to spend your time becoming a good doctor and to hire a consultant for practice management advice. There are some interdisciplinary areas where multiple degrees are necessary, but I think they are relatively rare. I don't think the average doctor needs an MBA. Also, most medical managers don't need an MD.

I am not really sure how you came to the conclusion that essentially becoming a CEO of a hospital or medical institution is a relatively simple thing.
Someone in this position has to manage massive amounts of funds and further find a balance between making good business and medical desicions.
Also, as far as I know, medical training has absolutely no component of big business administration in it. Hence, having an MBA in addition to a medical degree, although not necessary, definately helps in being competitive in acquiring such a position

 

[CanuckRazorback]

I think more important than this is having good business sense and applying it to practices. I did some consulting for a surgeon's office and they were just a mess. They kept promoting their secretary until she ran the place and she was just as clueless as the day she showed up to learn how to answer the phones. Only problem is, she was now responsible for making all of the decisions for the practice and signing all of the checks.

Problem with consulting for small businesses like this is that there is not a lot of cash involved. I put my $ where my mouth is and did my work on a contingency basis which ultimately yielded me a higher return than the flat fee we initially discussed, plus it allowed me to get in the door. The other problem is that there is a lot of customization that needs to occur for small practices like this. It's almost not worth the time. Lastly, there are not a lot of high $ procedures to collect on since you are dealing with doctor's fees. Lots of low dollar claims, no bargaining power and not a lot of cash = bad situation from a consulting perspective. But then again, this is probably what got them into trouble in the first place.

More attractive for physicians offices are billing services and practice management systems. You can get a nice stream of revenue from these.

Promoting the secretary seems like a common practice. That's what happened at a practice I worked at for a summer. They recently realized she didn't know anything, so they fired her but she was rehired by a doc at the clinic as a patient care assistant She went from the top administrative to the lowest ranked person in the clinic. I am thankful I got to witness this mess. It convinced me that getting an MBA would probably be a good idea.

 

[CanuckRazorback]

Why on earth would you need a medical degree to do this? I think the ideal person would be someone who had worked as an office manager, had some good business sense and maybe a business degree. In fact, I know someone who became quite successful via this route.

I often see people on this forum who think that you need to be a JD/MBA/MD/accoutant to accomplish relatively basic things. In general, it is best to develop expertise in a single area and hire other experts for help. Thus, it is better to spend your time becoming a good doctor and to hire a consultant for practice management advice. There are some interdisciplinary areas where multiple degrees are necessary, but I think they are relatively rare. I don't think the average doctor needs an MBA. Also, most medical managers don't need an MD.

I agree that most doctors don't need an MBA. However, I am finding out that the knowledge I am gaining this year is going to come in handy later on. Yes, I could have someone else write my business plan for my practice, but I'd much rather do it myself and feel like it's MY practice with MY ideas. Also, even if you don't have an MBA, having general business knowledge is definitely a plus. At the clinic I used to work at, the docs didn't have a clue. The management team didn't have the patients' best interest in mind. I think as MDs, well future MD in my case, we care a lot more about the patients than business people (at least, I will say that much of my classmates). Ultimately, patients are customers and should be threated that way. Just my 2 cents

 

[mward04]

I agree that most doctors don't need an MBA. However, I am finding out that the knowledge I am gaining this year is going to come in handy later on. Yes, I could have someone else write my business plan for my practice, but I'd much rather do it myself and feel like it's MY practice with MY ideas. Also, even if you don't have an MBA, having general business knowledge is definitely a plus. At the clinic I used to work at, the docs didn't have a clue. The management team didn't have the patients' best interest in mind. I think as MDs, well future MD in my case, we care a lot more about the patients than business people (at least, I will say that much of my classmates). Ultimately, patients are customers and should be threated that way. Just my 2 cents

Canuck-
Is Arkansas' program officially up and running now?

 

[cammy1313]

Guys, mward04 has a link to an incredible website in his signature. Any and all info I could ever want is on there. Definately check it out:

National Association of MD/MBA Students: MD-MBA.org

 

[mward04]

Guys, mward04 has a link to an incredible website in his signature. Any and all info I could ever want is on there. Definately check it out:

National Association of MD/MBA Students: MD-MBA.org

Glad you like the site...thank you!

 

[CanuckRazorback]

Canuck-
Is Arkansas' program officially up and running now?

Sorry about the delay, I haven't been on here in a while... If you are talking about the UAMS MD/MBA, I am not sure. I think it might be up and running in the fall. It's a partnership with UALR. I'm doing a straight MBA, not a dual degree track.