Want to Start Your Own Practice as a Nurse Practitioner? Here’s what You’ll Need to do

Being able to one day open your own practice may be a dream you’ve been nurturing for your whole career. Operating your practice does have many benefits, such as more freedom and better pay. But there are many requirements that you’ll have to fill first. You also have to be prepared for the challenges of running a facility on your own. Here are some of the things you’ll need to do if you want to start your practice and do it successfully.

Know if You Have What It Takes for the Job

The first thing you must know is whether you actually have the right mindset, skills, and attributes to be a good practice owner. Since you’ll be the main manager of your facility, you must evaluate your relationship with other people on your team. If you’re known as a great leader, then this could work. But, if you tend to be more withdrawn or have difficulty with teamwork, then you might have trouble managing and working with members of your staff.

You will be the one responsible for managing the business side of things. This means that you’ll have to deal with things like inventory management, mergers, and acquisitions, marketing, etc. Unless you are ready to learn those skills, you might have to hire outside help, which will eat into your bottom line.

Great practice owners are also highly organized and motivated. You must be ready to roll with the punches and be adaptable as well. Since you’ll have limited staff, you may have to deal with unexpected shortages from time to time because one or multiple of your employees couldn’t make it. This means that you’ll have to pick up the slack and sometimes perform tasks that you may not be thrilled about. This is something you’ll have to be ready for.

Know the Challenges of Opening Your Clinic

It’s also important that you don’t only focus on the good parts of being a practice owner. One of the biggest challenges is dealing with rules and regulations.

The government is increasingly getting involved in healthcare, and you never know when you might get a visit from them. They have been known for running arbitrary audits on clinics for years, and these can be tough on owners. Even if nothing is found, you still have to pay your employees and lose revenue for the whole duration of the audit.

Another common issue is finding great employees. Especially when it comes to your support teams. Support workers in healthcare tend to be less loyal and retaining employees can be a challenge. You might have to pay them more than you expected or review how you approach things like scheduling. This is another thing you will need to be ready for before starting.

There are many moving parts in a practice as well, and you might have to deal with all sorts of service providers. You will have to find a reliable EMR service, find an imaging service, and a lab team. There is also the fact that any of these could vanish overnight.

In the case of an EMR service, disappearing could spell trouble as you will have to spend a lot of time and money on transitioning software solutions. You will need to find a team that you can trust over the long term. This is why being flexible and adaptable is so important in this business.

Understand How Practice Authority Works

You should also know what kind of practice authority you’ll have in the jurisdiction you’ll be practicing in. As an NP, you can either have full-practice authority, reduced practice authority, or restricted practice authority.

When you have full-practice authority, you can perform pretty much all the functions of a physician as long as it’s within their scope of expertise. Reduced practice authority means that there will be restrictions on what procedures you can perform or how your clinic is set up. Limited practice authority means that you can set up your clinic, but you’ll need to be under the supervision of a physician.

At the time of writing, 22 states in the country grant full practice authority to NPs, so check if your state is on that list. If you’re in a reduced or limited practice authority state, research the rules you will need to abide by and what kind of services you’ll be able to provide.

Hire a CPA and Legal Professional

A CPA might be the first and most important professional you’ll need to work with when setting up your practice. You will also need to work with a business attorney. Like we said earlier, you will need to run this as a business, and unless you have the business skills yourself, you’ll have no choice but to hire someone to guide you.

We also suggest that you look around and see where you could find other NPs who started their clinics. This will help you know what legal obstacles they may have had to overcome and save you a lot of time and money in the process.

File the Paperwork

There is a lot of paperwork you’ll have to fill to become a practice owner, so be prepared. You’ll first have to file for the proper business permits and licenses. You will then need to get an NPI number which will tie in with your Tax ID number. You should also start the lengthy Medicare credentialing process as soon as possible as it can take weeks.

Start Looking for a Good Location

Just like any business, location is everything when building a clinic. You have to be careful not to overspend, however, and find a place that will give you good foot traffic at an affordable price.

One of the things you will have to take into consideration when picking a spot is how much space you’ll need not only now but in the future. You should also look at different arrangements and see what makes sense.

If you’re building this with someone else and have lots of capital, then you could build your clinic from the ground up. While it may cost you a bit more, you’ll be able to build it according to your needs and specifications. You might also be able to create space for other professionals or businesses, which could allow you to make some additional profits.

Another option is leasing space. This is the least expensive, but it might be difficult to find the perfect space in a good location. You also have the option of taking an existing space and remodeling it to build your clinic.

Make Budgetary Projections

Making budgetary projections will be important if you don’t want to end up spending too much at the beginning. Here, you should check payer reimbursement rates. This should help you make net income and gross income projections. You also have to consider the lower reimbursements many payers still pay NPs.

Start Shopping for Insurance

Insurance will be essential when starting. Almost every payer you come across will ask to see proof of malpractice coverage before they decide to work with you. You will need to start looking at liability coverage and coverage for your employees as well.

Be Smart with Equipment Purchases

One of the most important things, when you’ll get started, is making wise decisions when buying equipment. You will need to look at all your options and see what would make the most sense for you financially.

Buying anything new is usually a very bad decision. First of all, you have no idea if the piece of machinery will still be in use in a few years from now. If it’s outdated, you’ll be stuck with an overpriced piece of machinery that no one wants. Second, the cash flow hit will be much bigger than if you leased the equipment instead.

If you’re going to buy, you’re going to have to be thrifty. Second-hand equipment can be a good option as long as the price is right and it’s in the right condition. Also, know that there is no need to buy brand new office equipment or electronics for your team if you can find used options that work just as well.

Start Spreading the Word

Once you have your business and team set up, it’s time to start advertising your business. You will need to be hyper-local in your approach, so things like local SEO and social media should both be helpful. Don’t underestimate the power of being a resource in your community either. Offering workshops can be a great way to show that you care but also spread awareness about your brand in the community.

Starting your practice is a big challenge, but one that could pay off if done right. If you want to increase your chances of success, do as much research as you can on all aspects of the business, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.