When you own a healthcare practice, it can be challenging to know how to grow – especially if you’re just starting. Funding business development isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation. You need to look at every aspect of your practice to see where you’re doing well and where you can improve, but you also must think about the future of your practice and what you can do now to set yourself up for success in the future.
Healthcare professionals share a common goal – to help people maintain and restore wellness and health to their patients. However, not everyone starts their own practice because of the time, dedication, and hard work required. You’re not only a doctor, you’re also a business owner and CEO – which means you‘re responsible for hiring employees, getting the right equipment, patient accounting, marketing your practice, and so on. All of this can seem overwhelming, but the best part about owing a practice is that you don’t have to do it alone.
There are numerous resources available, people who will work with you, provide advice, and help you reach your goals. Healthcare business development is like most other business development, but there are a few specific things you’ll want to consider more closely. Here are seven business development tips for new healthcare practices:
Have a strong business plan
Once you decide to open your healthcare practice, you’ll want to develop a detailed business plan that will serve as a guide and resource as you reach your goals. You may even want to consider hiring a business consultant to help you get started – the stronger the foundation of your business is, the stronger your overall practice will be.
A detailed business plan lays out everything – from the number of employees you’ll hire initially to the amount and type equipment you’ll need to purchase to the office suite. You will also want to build in some flexibility to your business plan to allow you to make adjustments a shift in your plans becomes necessary.
Know where you need to invest
When you’re starting a healthcare business, you’ll need employees, equipment, office space, computer systems, and more. Spending funds in the wrong areas can be detrimental to your business, so it’s important to know exactly where to spend your money and how much to spend in each area. If you’re not sure where to start, a business consultant is a valuable resource to help you.
If you need financing your business investments, Hippo Lending offers low-interest loans designed specifically to meet the unique needs and challenges faced by medical professionals.
Treat your employees well
Employee satisfaction plays a major role in your business development. When you treat your employees well and give them the pay and benefits they deserve, they’re happier overall. And when you have happy employees, they’ll work harder, stay with you longer, and contribute to the vision for your practice.
Make sure you hire good employees, then do everything you can to keep them. It’s an investment, but it will have long-term positive benefits on your business.
Get up-to-date equipment
One of the costliest investments of owning a healthcare practice is purchasing the equipment. It’s critical to have up-to-date technology because it offers the best treatment for your patients
but to purchase it can cause financial stress. And if you’re just starting in the medical field, it may be impossible to purchase it outright.
Hippo Lending can help, we offer loans for healthcare professionals ranging from $15,000 to $350,000 so you can finance the equipment you need with flexible terms, affordable payments, and no upfront costs.
Have a strong marketing plan
Having a marketing manager (or agency) on your team will spur your business development and help you grow your practice. Patients need the services and care you have to offer; they also need to know who you are and what services your practice provides. A marketing manager’s job is to develop a marketing strategy to find those patients and bring them to you, so you can grow your patient base.
If you prefer to do your own marketing, that’s great too – just make sure you develop a strong plan that will produce results and growth.
Focus on your patients
When you decided to become a medical professional, you wanted to help and care for the sick and injured – don’t lose sight of that. When you focus on the needs and health of your patients, you will earn their trust and loyalty, which will ultimately help your business.
Be patient and persistent
Working on business development for your healthcare practice can be a challenge. However, it’s rewarding when you begin to see your hard work pay off. Have a solid plan, maintain focus on your goal, take things one step at a time, and be patient. It might seem like you have a long way to go and mountains to overcome, but before you know it, you’ll look back with gratitude and joy for how far you’ve come.
Building any business takes time, focus, energy, patience, and persistence, the team of experts at Hippo Lending is here for you. We admire the passion that healthcare professionals have, and we want to help make their goals a reality. Your dreams inspire our work, we are champions for those who, at one time, may have felt like an underdog, but today are dedicated to caring for others. We invest in people.
If you are interested in developing your business and you’d like to discuss funding options with one of our dedicated customer service advocates, give us a call or fill out an application so we can help you reach your goals.
Hippo Lending represents the convergence of medicine and finance. While we may not be saving lives, the underlying principles of the Hippocratic Oath closely align with our values: a commitment to service and treating our customers as people, not just a loan. We ensure privacy and always act from a position of unity and humility.