Micro-private practice advise

[SmallBird]

I'm hoping to start a really small private practice to take advantage of protected time I'm being given for outside clinical work. I'm trying to keep it simple, but wanted to get some thoughts from folks:

- Is it necessary to get a separate phone, and would you list it on your website, or could an email address be an ok way to get new patients?
- I'm creating a website, getting Valent, malpractice, and a business license. I won't have a physical space, but I'm working with a doctor who does in a nearby town to where I live, and most of my patients will be from there. Does that seem weird? Are most virtual-only practices listing the address as their homes?
- What has worked well for managing requests outside of appointments? Does anyone bill for this?

Thanks for any thoughts!

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[TexasPhysician]

For a micro-practice to be worth your time, I’d recommend giving out your personal cell and charging prices that hit the top of the market. Make it incredibly easy to access you and bill for it. Otherwise a practice has too many expenses to have very limited hours.

 

[shoomer]

For a micro-practice to be worth your time, I’d recommend giving out your personal cell and charging prices that hit the top of the market. Make it incredibly easy to access you and bill for it. Otherwise a practice has too many expenses to have very limited hours.

For a purely telehealth practice, what's a ballpark figure on these expenses? Assuming malpractice, EMR, etc.

 

[DareGreatly]

I do this currently. It's really not a lot of overhead. I sublet an office for $150 per month (two afternoons/evenings per week). Part-time (20 hr per week) malpractice is like ~$3.3k per year (increased over the past few years as I had recently come out of residency and they have discounts for new psychiatrists), iPrescribe is $360/year and google workspace is like $8 per month. So you're looking at around $475 per month overhead. Less if you do all virtual but I think if you're going to do OON it behooves you to differentiate yourself with an in-person offering. I don't pay for a EMR as I've seen some of these discontinue/get bought out and didn't want to hitch my wagon to one until I decide to expand my practice. I just type my notes.

 

[Stagg737]

I'm hoping to start a really small private practice to take advantage of protected time I'm being given for outside clinical work. I'm trying to keep it simple, but wanted to get some thoughts from folks:

- Is it necessary to get a separate phone, and would you list it on your website, or could an email address be an ok way to get new patients?
- I'm creating a website, getting Valent, malpractice, and a business license. I won't have a physical space, but I'm working with a doctor who does in a nearby town to where I live, and most of my patients will be from there. Does that seem weird? Are most virtual-only practices listing the address as their homes?
- What has worked well for managing requests outside of appointments? Does anyone bill for this?

Thanks for any thoughts!

Idk about others, but I would personally never list my home address publicly. See if you can use the other doctor's physical office as your address or get a PO box.

 

[TexasPhysician]

For a purely telehealth practice, what's a ballpark figure on these expenses? Assuming malpractice, EMR, etc.

Varies by geography and how fancy you get but some basics:
Malpractice part-time is about $4K/year
EMR with EPCS
Website
Marketing costs
Part-time rent
Office set-up
Legal fees for LLC and more complicated taxes

Plan to answer and return calls at odd hours as you won’t have support staff for a micro-practice. You may end up explaining your costs, paperwork, etc and callers decline to schedule.

As a comparison, it would be easy to find a part-time job at $200/hour. That is zero effort. When you add up extra expenses, phone calls, and dead time, this isn’t worth doing unless the micropractice cash rate is over $450/hour. There isn’t enough hours to cover overhead, $0/hour phone calls to build a client list, marketing in the area, etc.

 

[psych50]

How do you set up phone and voicemail?