Expand Your Capacity by Bringing on Another Provider

It’s scary to take a leap and hire another physician when it could cost $80,000 a year. But for this doctor, risk-taking paid off handsomely. It all started with one PA.

Whether you’re a small solo-provider practice looking to bring on your first employed provider, a large multi-clinic, multi-provider practice with numerous offices, or somewhere in between, strengthening your core business will mean bringing on one or more providers.

But be realistic. We know it’s hard to find and hire a physician who can give you the hours and flexibility you need. That’s not the best place to start. Instead, begin with the Low-Hanging Fruit of hiring a new mid-level provider.

If you think you can’t afford to do that either, then take a second to consider one doctor’s experience.

Fear of Risk

A few years into the start of his private practice, he kept running up against the problem of limited clinical capacity. He was desperate to hire another provider, though he was also certain he couldn’t afford it. He remembered it as a painful $80,000-a-year decision.

But rather than being held back by his fear of the risk, this doctor took the leap. He brought in a new mid-level provider–a physician’s assistant. Not only was the PA profitable for the practice, but she also took off some of the clinical load from his shoulders.

Soon enough, he found that the presence of this PA on the team had freed up about 10 percent of his time. That may not sound like much, but getting 10 percent of your time back is a big deal–especially if you use that newfound time for investing in activities that helped his practice grow to the next level.

A Scary Leap

Every doctor who made that scary leap to bring on his or her first provider–whether it was a PA, a medical tech to perform a specific onsite treatment, or even an employed physician–felt the fear and ambivalence about making that first key clinical hire. Yet, at some point, you can’t have an owner-independent medical practice if you are the only provider. You need other providers.

Today, this doctor has eighty-three distinct locations (yes, eighty-three), 1,003 employees, and hundreds of affiliate practices. It all started by taking the leap to hire that first PA when he thought he couldn’t afford it.

Good luck in growing your practice.

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