Physicians Practice - January 2008 - (Page 43)

ADDING ANCILLARIES ability to successfully diversify: public perception. Despite the time most physicians devote to providing value-added ancillary services, some may be inadvertently alienating patients (even peers) who view the pursuit of supplemental income as opportunistic. “If I walk into ﬁve different family practices and they’re all offering vitamins, collagen, and Botox treatments, I’m going to start to wonder about whether they are truly devoted to the business model that they have,” says Owen Dahl, a they deliver their care,” says Davenport-Ennis. “The primary focus of the clinic must continue to be centered on reclaiming wellness.” AN INDUSTRY IN FLUX How much further will the industry evolve? That depends on the competition, says Regina Herzlinger, a professor and business administration chair at the Harvard Business School. Physician practices, she notes, are “not just pushed by declining reimbursements from managed care, but by the prolifera- “All kinds of different physicians have gotten involved in Botox injections, for example, to try to keep their practices alive where they themselves might be skeptical about the medical value of what they are doing.” BELIEVE IT OR NOT David Dale, president, American College of Physicians consultant in Houston and author of “Think Business! Medical Practice Quality, Efﬁciency, Proﬁts.” The same could arguably be said of breast cancer centers that sell wigs and prosthetics, or physical therapy and rehabilitation centers that partner with chiropractic specialists. To be sure, when it comes to boosting the bottom line, good old-fashioned business savvy may be fair game for corporate America, but physicians, it seems, are forced to play by different rules. In the eyes of the public, medicine remains one of the last truly noble professions. Doctors, after all, are in the business of helping people. “What practices do to add income will contribute to the public’s perception of what the practice is — the quality of their therapy and the perception of how WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM tion of retail medical clinics.” Such clinics, which are staffed by nurse practitioners, are cropping up at drug stores and grocery stores across the country, offering affordable, convenient care for routine family health problems. “This is real competition for physicians because now there’s an alternative, cheaper way to meet many of your healthcare needs,” says Herzlinger, who has authored numerous articles on healthcare innovation. “They don’t do brain surgery. They have a very narrow menu, but they’re also very cheap so if you’re uninsured, or you’re a busy parent and your child needs a ﬂu shot, it’s an excellent option.” Revenue diversiﬁcation among private practitioners, she notes, is a competitive response to those clinics. “Good for them and good for the consumer,” says Herzlinger. “Let the best one win.” Ultimately, Herzlinger says she believes the changing face of private practice will beneﬁt the healthcare system as a whole. “Healthcare right now is incredibly inconvenient,” she says. “The patient has to make an appointment, come to the ofﬁce, go to the lab, visit the imaging center, and go back to the ofﬁce. It’s a huge beneﬁt to the economy that this integration occurs.” It may also be a boon to the uninsured. “Many physicians do a great deal of charitable work and to the extent that physicians become more proﬁtable, they should be able to do more of it,” says Herzlinger. “Those are two distinct social beneﬁts.” That, she adds, is why any government intervention that would limit the physician’s ability to provide ancillary care should be avoided. “I always worry about legislators stepping in and telling doctors these services are beyond their scope, when physicians aren’t asking for handouts — they’re putting their own capital at risk,” she said. “It’s competition.” Quite so. As small practices rise to meet the demands of a marketplace in ﬂux, only those that manage their business plans will likely survive. That means providing ancillary services that speak to the physician’s talents and expertise, implementing a strategy for smart growth, and never losing sight of patient-centered care. “If they succeed it’s because they will have made the customer’s lives better,” says Herzlinger. “If they fail, it’s because they weren’t good at it to begin with.” • Shelly K. Schwartz is a freelance writer in Maplewood, N.J., who has covered personal ﬁnance, technology, and healthcare for 12 years. Her work has appeared on CNNMoney.com, Bankrate.com, and Healthy Family magazine. She can be reached via editor@physicianspractice.com. 43 JANUARY 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - January 2008

Physicians Practice - January 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Fixing Medicaid Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks Noteworthy Cover Story: Fee Schedule Survey: 2007 Results Adding Ancillaries: Bucking the Practice Ask the Experts Idealab: 'How I Got Over My EMR Excuses' Technology: Don't Be Denied The Tech Doctor: Blessing or Curse? The Administrator's Desk: Learning From the Best Coding Career: To Partner, or Not? Management: Controlling Your Inventory Human Resources: How to Fire an Enployee Finance: Beyond Reimbursment - How to Fix Your Mix Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - January 2008

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