"Private medical practice business is no different
from any other business entity in the world,
when it comes to the absolute necessity for a
business education of the owner and the
maximum success and profitability
of all businesses."
The results available from even the slightest efforts made from implementing business and marketing strategies into a medical practice far exceed expectations. You'll never make me believe that most physicians have no idea what business strategies and marketing can do for their medical practice. They do know because they are bombarded with various elements of business and marketing daily, on TV, road signs, newspapers, radio, among other media sources.
Logically, even the dumbest individuals understand that marketing must produce results because
why else would millions of businesses of all sizes spend billions of dollars annually doing marketing and advertising. Obviously, businesses that do no marketing at all don't get many customers, don't make much money, and usually fail within a few years in business.
That's the reason 95% of small businesses fail within 5 years after startup--a well documented fact.
So, physicians know what any business has to do to stay in business. They know how much that marketing adds to business success. Physicians also understand what happens when their medical practice business is poorly managed and disorganized. Income drops, billing is intermittent, employees are unsure what to do next, scheduling of patients is disrupted, more patients complain, are just a few of the untoward events that occur because of the lack of business systems that keep an office organized.
Is there any question that physicians know, by common sense, what should be implemented into their medical practice businesses? The enigma is, why don't they make it a priority?
Out of the physician population who are in private solo medical practice or group practices in this country, what percent of those consult with business and marketing experts in any degree or format? I don't know the statistics, but I'd wager not more than 5%.
What factors might be reasons that doctors avoid learning business strategies and systems, as well as marketing strategies?
1. Lack of discretionary income in their practice?
2. Distrust in those who try to tell them the remarkable advantages of
knowing business and marketing top to bottom?
3. Fear of failure in making efforts in business and marketing that fail?
4. Too busy in practice to go back and learn business principles?
5. Stuck in a dimension of inertia and satisfied with what they have
going now?
6. Burned out of the need, education, productivity, and income cycles?
7. Just another issue that separates them from family interaction?
8. Do not have the self-confidence that they can make the education
work for them?
9. Already tried following business advice and never helped?
10. Just don't believe that any business knowledge or marketing
strategies would do any better for their practice growth and income
than they already are doing?
11. Medical education clearly implied that business knowledge was
not necessary?
12. Too hard to learn all the business stuff I would need to know to
create any significant improvements?
13. Just don't give a damn about learning new stuff even if it might help?
14. Have no desire or ambition to reach my highest potential in practice?
15. I know enough to do all that stuff already?
16. I would probably need an MBA from Harvard Business School to do
what I'd need to learn and do?
17. Soon all physicians will be forced into employee positions and won't
need to do the business and marketing stuff?
18. Even if I do learn all that stuff about business and marketing, constant
updating it would create another ongoing job for me in addition
to seeing patients?
19. I would be forced to hire a trained medical office manager and pay
a big salary?
20. No matter what I do, I can never reach the goals in practice that I
originally intended?
21. I'm quitting practice--too frustrating to put up with?
22. I'm changing careers to earn more money than I can make in
medical practice?
23. Increasing Government fee restrictions will never stop, so why
learn ways to improve my practice when sooner or later I can't
financially survive in practice?
24. Malpractice litigation and threats don't make improving my
practice a priority, because that will be taken away by a jury
award anyway?
25. I'm looking for other alternatives for managing my medical practice?
26. My practice business is different--business and marketing learning
wouldn't help?
27. My good loyal employees would never tolerate big changes in the
office functions?
28. I'm not the kind of doctor who can fire employees if the new
business stuff required it?
29. Just don't believe what the business experts say?
30. I've already accepted the fact that I will never be able to earn
enough in medical practice to make any business changes worthwhile?
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These factors and others don't drum up a strong stimulation for any physician or other healthcare provider to make learning highly productive business strategies a priority.
If these medical warriors would tell me how they feel and what they think about gaining business knowledge and about their biggest medical practice business problems, I would feel obligated to try to help them create solutions for what they need to circumvent the issues that bother them the most. The fact that a large number of business and marketing experts have been trying to do that for decades and never succeeded for a few of the above listed reasons. So, those experts have given up trying to help physicians do anything that would absolutely help them.
I am confident there are answers and alternatives for any of these issues, but I have the
feeling most physicians don't believe any of it.
If the reason physicians aren't grabbing on to the opportunities rapidly is a mixture of everything
above, then no one wins. But, I don't believe that's the case. It seems obvious to me that each medical professional has one specific, maybe two, ongoing practice frustration that is strangling them. If those were resolved, doctors would be much more satisfied with their medical practice business. Maybe practice more years before retiring.
My profound belief is that business knowledge, once learned and applied, will cure 90% of
those frustrations, and that when the income from the practice becomes stable and
increasing as a result of that business and marketing management knowledge, medical practice would be enjoyable once more.
Forget the government interference with medical practice physicians. It is a time for physicians to back off of the arrogance attitude and begin using common sense and logic in their personal decisions. If not for themselves, then for their own medical patients.
If you stop to think about your importance in our society, your status in our population, that you are one of the very few experts in healthcare, medical care, and medical knowledge in the world today who always have dedicated yourself to healing, curing, treating, diagnosing, and resolving medical problems. You are key to enabling sick and injured people to enjoy their lives and families more than any other person on this earth. And once in a while you are the person who saves a life by what you do. It is appropriate to understand that all physicians have been endowed with a purpose in life by our Creator and you do it the best way you can.
Physicians universally have the same objective--keep the world population healthy as possible. The problem is that there are predators, groups, organizations, governments, and factors that interfere with our objectives incessantly. The factors originate from innumerable actions taken by these groups that are powerful, untouchable, and resistant to change. Each has their own mind-set and specific reasons for activating their efforts to control, to use physicians to sanctify their objectives, and benefit tremendously off of the medical profession, primarily the physicians.
Undoubtedly, all physicians know that they are being used in many ways and for many reasons. And that fact points to the primary issue at hand--these factors, restrictions, mandates, control issues and continuous interference in the workings of the medical profession, brings a logical thinker back to the enormous problem of preventing essentially all medical practice physicians from ever attaining their optimal value to society and their maximum potential in their practice of medicine.
So, what does this persistent interference actually prevent physicians from doing, reaching, using, and functioning at
top efficiency?
- The most egregious factor is that physicians have no business and marketing education. Every business expert in the world today agrees that businesses managed by people without a business education will fail eventually.
Both the foundational principles that are embedded into the foundation of all successful businesses, the business systems, added to the medical practice marketing strategies that have to be used continuously in every business, are necessary for the survival of all businesses, including medical practice business management.
Because of this lack of business education, physicians never learn the business tools necessary to maintain and grow any business of any size. As a consequence, most physicians in private medical practice careers today have absolutely no hope of earning incomes that are at least 50% less than he or she would earn using the business and marketing tools they have learned. Their gross incomes would more than double depending on how persistently they used the business tools.
Medical schools refuse to offer or provide a business education for some covert reason. Physicians refuse to obtain a business education themselves for many reasons. There's a stalemate present that never will be resolved apparently, judging by their mindset medical educators have fixated on over the last century. - Permanently compromised lifestyle of physicians. A factor that is the primary cause of the frustration and disappointment with their profession. Burnout is now saturating the medical profession and worsening.
----Physicians can't earn enough in private medical practice to keep their office open.
----Live life at a lower middle class lifestyle
----Inability to fund a retirement plan
----Inability to send their kids to college
----Increased work load and more patients doesn't help--burnout is result
----Suicide potential from loss of medical practice
----Family disruptions follow lack of income--divorce
----Loss of control of medical career destiny
----Prolonged psychiatric problems--guilt and loss self-esteem - Private medical practice compromises...
----Increase patient load--work harder--burnout
----Lose medical patients for lack of better patient care in office
----Low income means new skills and knowledge not affordable
----Low income--become behind in skills and knowledge
----In a hurry--patient neglect--change doctors
----Can't remain on cutting edge of their specialty
----Practice more inefficient--wasted time--low income
----More errors in treatment and diagnosis--in a hurry through patients
----No money enough to get ahead--catch up
----No understanding why they are losing money
----Professional Probe----
"Eventually, all physicians succumb to the medical practice level of intensity that is beyond tolerance.
It sweeps away clear thinking, good judgement,
desire to manage another medical patient, and in
private medical practice it will destroy medical
careers and sometimes a physician. This is the result
of every physician's lack of business and marketing
knowledge which provides them with the essential
tools to dig themselves out of the hole they have
unknowingly dug for themselves."
Articles©2013-2022/CGG INVESTMENTS LLC. All rights reserved. #150, 3-16-22
