New diabetes care and education business requires careful planning, strong support system
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Diabetes care and education specialists should consult with experts, identify a niche, and be creative and willing to take some risks when starting a private practice or consulting business, according to two speakers.
Gary Scheiner, MS, CDCES, owner and clinical director of Integrated Diabetes Services in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, and Susan Weiner, MS, RDN, CDN, CDCES, FADCES, Endocrine Today Editorial Board Member and owner of Susan Weiner Nutrition PLLC in North Bellmore, New York, said starting a business can give health care professionals a flexible schedule, provide more lucrative income opportunities and allow job creativity. However, no business is without risks and challenges.
“As diabetes care and education specialists, we obviously go into this because we’re passionate to educate, support and advocate for people with diabetes,” Weiner told Healio. “Many diabetes care and education specialists work in traditional roles, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have an entrepreneurial spirit. It doesn’t have to be seeing patients in private practice full time or opening up a consulting business or a corporation full time. Many people are resourceful, creative and want to take risks. When going into private practice and starting your own business, it is important to understand how it works.”
Weiner and Scheiner discussed tips for starting a small business during a presentation at the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists Annual Conference.
First steps in starting a business
There are several advantages to starting a small business, but there are also a number of challenges. A prospective business owner must be prepared for start-up costs, the lack of job-related benefits provided at a larger company, possible feelings of isolation, work-life balance concerns and more. Beginning with a part-time business can help mitigate these challenges, according to Weiner.
Before starting a business, Weiner said, consult experts in several nonmedical fields. At a minimum, prospective business owners should contact an accountant and attorney to guide them through the legalities of forming a corporation in their state.
“If you do a lot of writing and you do a lot of speaking, it’s important to also have someone advise you on contract work, indemnification clauses and intellectual property,” Weiner told Healio. “You have to know what contract you’re signing to see if your work, even if it’s the work that you’ve written, can be used and duplicated somewhere else.”
Another major consideration is whether to have a brick-and-mortar office or to use primarily telehealth. For those wishing to open a physical office, there are cost considerations, as well as challenges of having people come to appointments in-person, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. For telehealth business owners, the landscape is also changing with respect to coding for telehealth, billing and acceptable platforms.
Private practice owners also must decide how to handle receiving payments. Owners can hire a biller or purchase a program to handle this task.
Networking a key part of marketing
New business owners should identify a niche and determine what type of marketing best targets their clientele. Scheiner said it is better to focus a business on one area rather than trying to serve many different areas.
“Being specialized and focusing on what you do best is what everyone should try to do,” Scheiner said during the presentation.
Scheiner said there are several cost-effective ways to market a new business. Social media can be harnessed to advertise a new practice or business online. Scheiner recommended against purchasing advertising only on social media, however. Health care professionals should participate on social media to connect more strongly with their audience.
A website should be well-designed, with user-friendly functionality so clients can find information, make appointments online and contact health care professionals easily. Weiner said new business owners must understand search engine optimization to improve their website’s position on Google.
Having a strong professional network is also important for new business owners. Weiner said having strong relationships with physicians, physical therapists and other diabetes care and education specialists can help bring more clients to a new practice.
“My core physicians that I’ve worked with for many years and the people they partnered with has been an ongoing, deep support system to me,” Weiner told Healio. “That will depend on your business; I’m completely independent in mine. However, many people work under an umbrella in private practice under a physician or organization. Those are some options you can weigh, and that may be a steady stream of referrals for whatever your niche might be.”
There are other cost-effective ways to market a business, creating and using an email list, sending news releases to media, offering support groups and partnering with vendors. Scheiner also emphasized connecting with people on a more personal level, saying that impact can be just as effective as paid advertising.
“We still have to pay attention to our personal connections and our personal interactions with individuals, whether they are referral sources or our patients themselves,” Scheiner said during the presentation.
Three tips for starting a business
Starting a new business can feel overwhelming at times. Weiner and Scheiner offered three tips for staying sane.
- Have an accountability partner who can offer suggestions and keep you on track. This partner does not need to be another diabetes care and education specialists, but should be someone who can be trusted.
- Be prepared to make mistakes and fail, especially in the early stages.
- Set limits and recognize you cannot do it all. Sometimes you must say “no.”
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Scheiner G, et al. T-03. Presented at: ADCES21; Aug. 12-15, 2021; (virtual meeting).
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