A guide to launching a private practice: 4 key considerations

The decision to start your own private practice is both exciting and daunting. It requires an understanding of business, finance, HR and strategy, which, as a doctor, you may not have much experience in. Fortunately, Avant Practice Solutions’ Practice Management team has the expertise to take you through the entire process. 

Our Practice Management Consultants are experienced in managing the launch of a medical practice. Think of a consultant like a business manager who coordinates the project end-to-end, leverages external support and makes sure nothing gets missed. 

Our consultants can work with you from the very beginning of your journey, from the moment you make the decision to start a practice to the day you open your doors. We’ll help to ensure you have everything you need to make your business resilient and successful. 

Our Practice Management Consultants are also the point of contact for our three Practice Packages: Practice Start-up, Practice Scale-up and Practice Growth.  Each package has been carefully curated to include the information, expertise and services from Avant that will help you achieve your goals. Learn more about our Practice Packages. 

4 key considerations when starting a private practice 

Below, we outline the operational considerations and set-up requirements of starting a practice, from technology and administration to staffing – and how we can help. We will touch on important tasks such as determining the location and structure of your practice, the software to implement, and how to ensure operations are streamlined to reduce the administration load and optimise performance. 

1. Structure, size, location of practice 

The first step to starting a private practice is to determine its structure, size and location. Three common structures of a medical business are sole trader, company and trust – for instance, will you be the sole practitioner who works alone, or will your practice cater to multiple doctors and allied health professionals? Our Practice Management Consultants can work with you to develop a business plan and direct you to the appropriate accountants, lawyers and financial advice. 

Once you have established the structure and size of your practice, the next big consideration is location. This may involve researching the demographics in different areas to understand who your patients might be and whether there is a local demand for your specialty. 

Setting up a practice in an established area will likely give you access to more potential patients, especially if there are hospitals and pharmacies nearby. However, you’ll likely compete with other practices and specialists. 

On the other hand, if you choose to operate in an underserved or rural area with less competition, you and your staff may need to be flexible and willing to travel. Accessibility is another consideration – is there parking and links to public transport? 

Once you have determined the location and size of your practice and, crucially, whether you will buy or lease the property, you’ll need to consider the fit-out: does the building has all the amenities it needs for the doctors, support staff and patients? Our team can help to manage the fit-out and so you can ensure all needs are met. 

2. Staffing and recruitment 

Your practice’s support staff will impact the operational success of your practice, so it’s important to get recruitment right.  

Our Practice Management team can provide recruitment support to help you source and retain the right staff. We can complete activities such as: 

• writing job descriptions 
• posting job ads 
• screening resumes 
• phone screening candidates 
• conducting first-round interviews 
• shortlisting candidates 
• reference checking 
• coordinating employment contracts. 

While we are not a recruitment agency and cannot make guarantees, we’re a cost-effective solution because we charge per hour rather than a percentage of hires. 

You can read more about how our team can offer HR support in our article: ‘3 common HR challenges for medical practices and how you can overcome them’. We also wrote an article on tips to help your secretarial team thrive. 

3. Business services and administration systems  

In order for your practice to operate effectively, you must set up the following services and systems – and we can help. 

• Telecommunications: Setting up a telephone system is the first step to taking patient calls and making bookings. We can get quotes from IT providers and liaise with software and IT integrations on your behalf. 
• Medical transcription: We work closely with Avant’s VoiceBox Intelligent Transcription team who provide an end-to-end solution to streamlining medical correspondence, from dictation to delivery. 
• Bookkeeping and payroll: Bookkeeping and payroll are foundational to any business and it’s important to have robust processes. It’s your responsibility to ensure your practice is payroll-compliant and your bookkeeping is up to taxation standards. Consider outsourcing to our expert Bookkeeping and Payroll team. Find out more by downloading our eBook. 
• Practice management software: Practice management software is a key tool for managing the administrative and operational aspects of your practice. We can help you find the right vendor for your business’s requirements. 
• Financial handling: Determine how financial handling will happen – that is, how will you receive money from a patient and from insurers? How will you submit invoice to insurers? And how will this be reconciled in bookkeeping to ensure you receive all the money you’ve charged for? We can help get you set up with accounting software and point of sale machine. 
• Business analytics and financial reporting: Implementing financial reporting capabilities will help you measure the success of your practice. For more information, read our article: ‘How to optimise the revenue of your medical practice’. 

Our team can also assess your practice’s in-house capabilities and identify opportunities to automate or outsource tasks where it makes financial sense (e.g. bookkeeping, billing and virtual administration support). 

4.Documentation  

Having the right documentation in place when you open your doors is crucial. We can help to ensure you have employment contracts in place as well as contracts with other doctors and professionals working in your rooms (if applicable). 

We can also help you to create a policies and procedures manual, which is a rulebook around how your practice operates and the rules that govern the activities in your practice. If policies and procedures aren’t in writing, it’s difficult to enforce them on a staff member. 

Examples of policies and procedures include instructions how to answer the phone, a social media policy, and instructions on how to deal with a data breach or privacy issue. We can provide a full set of policies and procedures ready for Day One of your practice. 

Our team also offers accreditation support to ensure your practice is set up for long-term success. We can help to establish processes that meet industry standards and prepare you and your staff for audits. 

To can learn more about our Practice Management services and how our team of consultants can help you effectively manage your practice to maximise success, book a meeting with one of our Practice Success Consultants. 

To learn more about starting a practice, you can watch our webinar where industry experts discuss tips for starting a practice. Watch the recording here. 

To find out more about Avant Practice Solutions’ full suite of products, visit our website.