Progress Notes Issue 56: Why Niching your Practice Might be Better than Primary Care
NP Business Tip: Why Niching your Practice Might be Better than Primary Care Yes, the big push right now is primary care, but not everyone does primary care nor do they want to. Several clinicians already work in specialty practices such as diabetes, bladder health, pain management, psych/mental health and more. So what are some of the advantages to providing specialty care? Assuming you have a passion for one area of health care over another, practicing in that area allows you to live and work in your passion - truly a gift. It is one of the greatest benefits to both you and your clients. You will be happier and so will your clients. Working in a specialty allows you to develop and sharpen your expertise. It allows you to become the go-to person in that particular industry and expand your offerings beyond the patient arena. For example you might become a national speaker and teacher of that particular topic. Your potential income also increases. Specialists often charge more for their clinical services (cash and insurance other than Medicare). If you are also providing services such as teaching and speaking, you can also charge for those services. As a specialist you can potentially decrease your overhead since you limit the variety of equipment you need to have available. On the other hand, you may have a large overhead depending on the equipment you need for the specialty.
Another potential advantage, again depending on the specialty, is that you will likely decrease the complexities you have to manage, allowing you to focus on your specialty. For example, if you specialize in dermatology, you are likely not going to deal with someone's hypertension. On the other hand, if you practice in pain management, you might deal with that pain as it may be a manifestation of poor pain control. And finally, a potentially huge benefit is removing yourself from the role of the "gate-keeper" and it's associated activities. NPBO™ Action Steps:
Here are some questions to help you explore the idea of specialty care or grow your already existing specialty practice.
- What is your area of passion in health care? What bring you joy, gets you excited when you get up in the morning? Is this an area where you would work for free all day long and still love it?
- Discover the need for your services in this area of passion.
- If there is enough need, how can you turn this passion into a business? What would it take?
- Is there reimbursement available for this area, or will this need to be a cash business?
- If necessary, how can you obtain training/additional training in this area?
- How might you increase your income as the specialists in this area?
- How might you serve for clients.
Take the time to really think about these questions. If you need further assistance, log on to NPBO™.
© 2010, Barbara C. Phillips, NP. All Rights Reserved.
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