Specializing...don't buy a practice?

Started by Plopper
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Plopper

"This too will pass"
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So when i was shadowing, i shadowed a specialist, and he told me that buying a specialized practice was in his opinion not a good idea. His reasoning was that when a gp sends to a specialist, he trusts that specialists work. Now if fresh grad A comes along and buys said specialized practice, the patient retention is much lower because the general dentist may stop referring patients to you.

Any opinions?
 
Plopper said:
So when i was shadowing, i shadowed a specialist, and he told me that buying a specialized practice was in his opinion not a good idea. His reasoning was that when a gp sends to a specialist, he trusts that specialists work. Now if fresh grad A comes along and buys said specialized practice, the patient retention is much lower because the general dentist may stop referring patients to you.

Any opinions?
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Plopper, JUST CHILL MAN!!!
Worry about medical school and NBDE (graded) and then think about other things. Take one thing at a time.
 
Atu14 said:
Plopper, JUST CHILL MAN!!!
Worry about medical school and NBDE (graded) and then think about other things. Take one thing at a time.
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haha just thinking ahead, it's good lol

honestly, just really bored with nothing to do so it gives me time to think and reflect haha

I did search, but i didn't find much about people buying specialized practices and thought it was an interesting question...guess not lol apologies 🙁
 
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Haha I hear ya Plopper, the constant refreshing of SDN just isn't enough some times. I'm always thinking of new things to search to fill the free time.

It's true, I haven't read anything about people buying specialty practices and I have no insight all. Interesting thought though, looking towards the future of course😀
 
Waitlisted2009 said:
buy and then make it your own, you have to start somewhere right? and its probably better than scratch. "retention" will probably be low. The same GP might not still refer but you will have some patients which is greater than 0.
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I'd be ever so interested where you received your information
 
My wife bought a perio practice 8 years ago and I bought an ortho practice 3 months ago. If the price is right, buying an existing practice is actually better than starting from scratch. For ortho, all existing patients will stay with you b/c it would cost more if they decided to see another orthodontist. Many of the existing patients who had phase I tx before will come back to you for phase II treatment. This is why ortho practices in CA are sold very fast.
 
charlestweed said:
My wife bought a perio practice 8 years ago and I bought an ortho practice 3 months ago. If the price is right, buying an existing practice is actually better than starting from scratch. For ortho, all existing patients will stay with you b/c it would cost more if they decided to see another orthodontist. Many of the existing patients who had phase I tx before will come back to you for phase II treatment. This is why ortho practices in CA are sold very fast.
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Is there a lot of issues with different philosophies amongst ortho practices? ie- ext of bi's vs not and completing cases from previous owner. Most GPs have former owner finish cases but I would think ortho would be different as cases take much longer.
 
pietrodds said:
Is there a lot of issues with different philosophies amongst ortho practices? ie- ext of bi's vs not and completing cases from previous owner. Most GPs have former owner finish cases but I would think ortho would be different as cases take much longer.
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Yes, there is. But I get used to taking over existing cases since I've worked at several busy group practices that have high orthodontist turnover.
 
charlestweed said:
My wife bought a perio practice 8 years ago and I bought an ortho practice 3 months ago. If the price is right, buying an existing practice is actually better than starting from scratch. For ortho, all existing patients will stay with you b/c it would cost more if they decided to see another orthodontist. Many of the existing patients who had phase I tx before will come back to you for phase II treatment. This is why ortho practices in CA are sold very fast.
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I was wondering how existing treatment gets factored in. When you buy an existing practice, you do so to instantly have lots of work to do and a built in referral network. How does it work in purchasing a practice for ortho when a large portion is paid up front? Don't you as the new practice owner end up losing money doing these cases where the previous owner collected most of the money up front?
 
Guy Smiley said:
I was wondering how existing treatment gets factored in. When you buy an existing practice, you do so to instantly have lots of work to do and a built in referral network. How does it work in purchasing a practice for ortho when a large portion is paid up front? Don't you as the new practice owner end up losing money doing these cases where the previous owner collected most of the money up front?
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Yes, I will lose money on patients who are done paying for their treatment.....I have to continue to treat them without charging additional fees. Fortunately, most of them still owe a large balance. It is very rare that we receive the whole amount up front from the patients. Many of them put a down payment and then make monthly payments.

I bought this office for $165k, which is less than what I would have to pay to set it up from scratch…so I didn’t think it was a risky move.
 
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Guy Smiley said:
I was wondering how existing treatment gets factored in. When you buy an existing practice, you do so to instantly have lots of work to do and a built in referral network. How does it work in purchasing a practice for ortho when a large portion is paid up front? Don't you as the new practice owner end up losing money doing these cases where the previous owner collected most of the money up front?
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This would give you a lot of opportunity to build goodwill with the existing patients, get them talking out in the community about how great the new doctor is. I see this is an advantage over the scratch practice where you'd be sitting around with empty time slots still making no money and also not building goodwill with anyone at the patient level since you'll probably be out knocking on doors for referrals.
 
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