BLOG: Plan a practice ‘makeover,’ part 1

ByJohn B. Pinto

Any reader, male or female, is familiar with the concept of a “makeover,” a small number of superficial revisions that work with a person’s naturally attractive features and can diminish years of neglect and poor fashion sense. This notion of a makeover is a handy simile for doctors and practices that need — in practice management terms — less than a full blown turnaround from the brink of operational or economic disaster.

Let’s examine an example of such a makeover, actually a composite of several interesting cases, and explore how sometimes all it takes is a little more or a little less — not a grand plan, great efforts or untenable costs — to find your way to a more successful practice.

Here’s the setup. Imagine an upper Midwest, rural, solo practice. When I first talked to our composite doctor — I’ll call him “Dave” — there was no obvious focal point of concern he had about his practice. Revenue and profits were not stellar, but not too bad. A general ophthalmologist in his mid-40s, he was surgically busy, but after 9 years in private practice, he felt he had topped out and simply stopped growing. Dave sensed he might be a little overstaffed, especially during the winter season when volumes flagged. Here’s a recap of the practice’s “before” key performance numbers and other data:

In the next installment, I’ll provide some impressions on this practice before a makeover process was launched.