3 Things to Consider When Going Into Private Practice
What you need to know to help you start a rewarding and lucrative journey.
Starting your own practice as a healthcare provider is exciting. You can set your own hours, choose your patients/clients, and use the methods and techniques in your field you think work best in your hands. Being your own boss can feel liberating, but it also takes some business know-how. You’ll need to consider factors like finding a location, setting up your office with basic services, payer credentialing, liability, and more.
MedCoShare offers physicians and other healthcare providers office space that adapts to their changing needs through coworking spaces and service support. Our goal is to help you launch your private practice as quickly and painlessly as possible. In this post, we are going to give you some pointers so you go into your new journey as prepared as you can be.
Finding a Location
Right now, general commercial real-estate is inexpensive, but healthcare office space is still hard to find at affordable prices. It is even harder if you don’t have a full slate of patients yet, and would like to get started practicing part-time. Ideally, you want a space in an area that has a high proportion of patients who carry good insurance, and that is relatively underserved in your specialty. You also want a space with parking, disability access, and amenities that make patients comfortable. MedCoShare has offices in Philadelphia now, and plans to open locations in South Jersey, and Bucks County within a few months.
Regulations and Insurance
Before starting your practice, there are a few regulations you should consider. These include:
Business licenses — You may need to obtain a business license to grant you the right to operate your practice in your municipality. For example, in Philadelphia, every business must apply for a Commercial Activity License (CAL).
Payer credentialing — Health insurance companies formally assess a provider’s qualifications before the provider can bill for their services. This can be time-consuming, and requires the provider to submit extensive background information. In the past, every individual health plan had its own credentialing process, but there are now centralized databases (e.g. CAQH) that allow a provider to submit documentation once, and use it for multiple insurance carriers. The timelines for this should be built into your planning, unless you provide mainly cash pay services (such as cosmetic or wellness procedures) that are not billed to insurance.
Malpractice insurance — Whether you are a physician or a non-physician healthcare provider, you need to get the appropriate professional liability insurance before you start seeing patients. Different types of providers have different insurance needs. To determine what your practice needs, you can connect with your specialty’s national or state professional society. Generally, liability insurance companies cover many types of providers (not just MD specialists, but podiatrists, chiropractors, optometrists, and others), and can advise you on your needs
Operational Needs
In addition to the space itself, you will need to set up various service contracts for your practice. This means basics like utilities, internet, specialized medical waste removal, and cleaning/sanitizing services, but can also mean more specific needs like coding, billing, administrative staffing, and medical assistants. MedCoShare will take care of many of these for you, and we truly want to help you get started, so if there is some service we don’t already provide, please talk to us and we can discuss how we can support you.
Get in Touch With MedCoShare Today
Are you starting your practice journey and need an office? Reach out to MedCoShare and learn more about what we can offer healthcare providers in the greater Philadelphia region.
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