Roll up concept

October 15th, 2011
OS market share - Janurary 2010

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One of the  most lucrative business tactics is called a “roll up“. They are common in the world of large and medium sized companies but not common in individual medical practices. A roll up happens when one company buys out a competitor and serves the competitors customer base using its operating infrastructure. It makes sense because you increase market share but reduce overall costs by eliminating duplicate systems. How could that work in a medical practice?

Well for starters you could apply a similar concept called an “aggregation”. In an aggregation, competitors maintain their brand identity and market share but use a common infrastructure. Is it hard for you to hire good staff? Well how about teaming up with other practices that share the same problem and starting a staffing agency? The partners in the agency can get the first crack at new candidates while overhead costs are offset by placement of staff in outside offices. Pretty nifty, huh? 

There are a lot of strategic alliances available to doctors and we are involved in several right now. If you’re interested contact us to see if we have anything available for you. The downside to these types of alliances is that you need quality people to actually run the enterprise. So if the partners are sharing expenses but there is nobody in charge of running the new venture it will probably fail. Success doesn’t happen by accident or location, it happens because of successful application of proven business principles. 

David Zahaluk, MD is a Dallas-based practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com.

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Holy cow I can’t believe how much that is costing me!

October 4th, 2011
Robbery (film)

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That is what you will probably say when I expose the debacle that is your front office. I’m telling you it is ugly. Here’s why:

1. Finding good help is harder than ever. Turns out a generation fed a physical and mental diet of junk food is not as hardy as we would like to think. This generation of workers is hard to train and hard to motivate. Bemoan it if you will, that is the fact.

2. In one office, we counted 5 patients a day were lost to the scheduling process. Mainly it was calls answered too slowly or lost to voice mail. At $150/encounter, that is costing the office  $198,000 per year. Houston… we have a problem.

3. Nice guy/gal front office people don’t want to collcet deductibles/copays diligently at the time of service. They are too busy trying to be best friends with your patients. I don’t know anybody that wants to pay me to be their friend. If I did, I would immediately stop associating with them. Easily this is costing you $25,000-$50,0o0 per year.

Can you afford this much waste? Are you operating a charity clinic – intentionally or otherwise?

Look, you simply can’t afford to have your front office staff set the bar for your success. Measure their progress, train them and get rid of them if they can’t get it together.

Or better yet, get smart and outsource this training/measurement/management function to us so you can sleep at night. And pay your bills too.

Seriously, dude, get on this.

David Zahaluk, MD is a Dallas-based practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com.

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End of Q3

September 30th, 2011
Goal!

We are at the end of the third quarter of 2011. What was your revenue goal for 2011? You should be 3/4 of the way there. Are you?

Are you as excited about building your practice as you are about your kid’s soccer game? Are you excited about your financial future?

If you’re not, I’ll bet I know why. I’ll bet it’s because you don’t feel 100% certain you can get to where you want to be. Maybe you feel other doctors are good at having a successful practice, but not you. Maybe you feel other doctors are better at dealing with money than you are.

If that describes you, I want to break you of that thought pattern. You can have a financially succesful practice. I’ve helped lots of doctors increase their profits dramatically. It’s not really all that complicated. I have a vision of how to grow practice revenue and I have the confidence to know that it can be done.  That’s the only difference between having a successful practice and financial life and not having them.

Here’s the big question: Will you accept help? Will you say yes to more money and less stress or will you bar the door to positive change? I’m OK with whatever answer you come up with. Are you OK with your answer?

David Zahaluk, MD is a Dallas-based practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com.

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Will 2012 Be Your Year?

September 23rd, 2011
Revenue

Sick and tired of being sick and tired? Now is the time to put together a comprehensive, effective, kick-butt plan for next year. Start by getting together with your CPA or CFP and figuring out where you want to go financially with your practice.

Here at Ultimate Practice Builder we are experts at enhancing your revenue. Chances are we can help you to exceed your revenue goals for 2011. What do those goals look like? What are your goals in terms of:

     Top line revenue

     Take home pay and bonus

     Debt reduction

     Passive investment

     Selling your practice

Think about it. You can have the exact kind of life and practice you want. We can help and so can a lot of other talented people. Are you using all of your resources to the fullest? 

So what are you going to do differently in 2012? Start with your management and advisory team. Get more brainpower on your side and see how far you can go. The only one stopping you is you.

David Zahaluk, MD is a Dallas-based practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com.

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Your Most Underutilized Asset

September 17th, 2011
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Your subconscious mind is an amazingly powerful tool to help you reach your goals.  Whatever you’re struggling with, whatever your stuck on your subconscious mind has the creative genius to help you find the answer.

Here’s a way to use your subconscious mind:

Choose a list of 10 goals you would like to accomplish within the next year. Every day write down the same list of goals in the first person stated as though they were already accomplished by a certain date.

Don’t say “I want to quit smoking.”  Instead say, “I am a non-smoker by December 1, 2009.”  Or say “I earn $300,000 annualized net income from my practice by March 1, 2012.”

Your subconscious mind lacks the ability to refute these messages.  It takes these statements as fact and goes to work trying to resolve the tension between our current and future reality.

David Zahaluk, MD is a Dallas-based practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com.

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Do you procrastinate?

September 9th, 2011
Procrastination

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Are there things you should be doing in your practice but don’t? Haven’t started that website? Haven’t hired a key position? Haven’t completed your charts? What options do you have to get better at these things?

The ABCDE method of time management works well. Using this method, you write down all the tasks you haven’t completed and rank them from A to E.

A tasks are absolutely critical to your success. An example of this is completing your charts. You have to do them, no questions asked. You may not like to do them but you will have major pain if you avoid them. Do them first.

B tasks are less important but still helpful to your overall goals. An example of a B task might be completing a  patient short term disability form. It’s less improtant than completing your clinical notes and superbills but still necessary for patient care. Do these tasks asfter you complete all your A tasks and not before.

C tasks provide no clear benefit. They are neither urgent nor important – basically time wasters. These tasks can be delayed and from time to time taken care of. Don’t waste a lot of time and effort on these tasks. 

D tasks are ones that should be delegated to someone else. Make sure you are not doing what someone else could be doing better.

E tasks are ones that should be eliminated altogether. These are tasks that don’t take you closer to your overall goals. Cross these off your list and stop doing them altogether.

Once you have organized your list this way, get busy. Move into action. Getting started is the best way to overcome procrastination.   

David Zahaluk, MD is a Dallas-based practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com.

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My New Favorite Airline

September 3rd, 2011
Image representing Richard Branson as depicted...

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Goodbye American. Hello Virgin American. I’m hooked after one trip. Richard Branson has created a memorable customer experience with his airline.

Even though I try to leave enough time for my return flight, invariably I’m rushed and a little worried I’ll miss it. So as I hustled up to the ticket counter at LAX, I felt like I was walking into a chic trendy club. Boz Scaggs music played at more than background levels (followed by Curtis Mayfield, you can’t beat that). The usual bright airport lights were replaced by little red lamps hanging from the ceiling. Instead of the typical annoyed, frustrated ticket agents, these people seemed to be having a good time. Totally different from what I’m used to.

Oh and every seat has its own tv screen and remote. You can use this screen to watch regular tv, premium cable channels, movies, play games, track trip progress, surf the web, answer email and even order drinks and snacks.

Why would I ever go back to the usual experience of being on a giant bus in the air when I can be part of something that is much, much cooler and way more fun? 

David Zahaluk, MD is a Dallas-based practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com.

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Happy Birthday DWZ

August 29th, 2011
Candles spell out the traditional English birt...

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Happy birthday to me! Long live the Ukrainian iconoclast!

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Would you do this?

August 22nd, 2011
Artie Lange at a FYE in Glendale, California

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A little while ago I was listening to the Howard Stern Show and I heard a segment featuring a clincial psychologist that did a standardized psychological inventory on the show members to see who was the craziest. It was a fascinating look into the psyches of radio’s quintessential dysfunctional family.

The show was a huge success and it crashed the doctor’s website. When I finally could get onto the psychologist‘s website I found the name of her publicist. So I emailed her and called her up. Our conversation went well and I’m flying to Beverly Hills to meet with her next week to discuss projects we might work on.

Will it lead anywhere? I don’t know. There is a good chance it may be a waste of time. But I do know this – nothing is better for your business/practice than publicity. And as Wayne Gretzky says, “100% of the shots you don’t take don’t go in”.

Are you aggressive enough in ethically exploiting the good opportunities that pass you by every day?

David Zahaluk, MD is a Dallas-based practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com.

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Personal Productivity

August 14th, 2011

Here’s a tip from business expert Chet Holmes. Put only 6 things on your daily to do list. Make sure that those 6 things will move your practice forward in a significant way – and that it is consistent with your overall practice plan.

And here’s one more from me. Schedule time to work on your to do list away from direct patient care. Working on business growth requires getting into the right frame of mind. Many high value tasks require a different type of thinking than clinical care dictates. It doesn’t take many knocks on the door or phone calls to take me right out of that mental state. First thing in the morning before everyone gets there works best. Even though I’m not a morning person I’ve found it necessary to develop the discipline to work when the getting’s good.

David Zahaluk, MD is a Dallas-based practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at www.UltimatePracticeBuilder.com.

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