Starting your own medical practice can be outright daunting. The decision to leave the security of your hospital job and move into an independent private practice can be exciting while also being overwhelming at the same time. Here, we have put together a list of necessary steps to help you start your own clinic.
Just remember that starting an independent medical practice is not an easy task, and it brings with it many new responsibilities. Just remember that starting an independent medical practice is not an easy task, and it brings with it many new responsibilities. In developing this list, we have used the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) guidelines.
General Business Knowhow
Business management and development are not usually part of the educational curriculums at medical schools. Therefore, doctors often need to develop general practice management skills personally to look into location decisions, staffing arrangements, business structure for their practices. This way, they can design business strategies to take over their own administrative responsibilities related to their daily operations.
Location
The first thing to consider when deciding on a location is visibility. Opening your clinic near existing health facilities, hospitals and pharmacies will help you generate a steady flow of clientele.
Similarly, factors like vicinity to transport infrastructure, and availability of community facilities, are also among necessary location considerations, when starting your new medical practice.
Borrowing and Financing
You need to establish how much you need to borrow in obtaining a commercial property. In Australia, there are many different lending and borrowing solutions available for medical practitioners to purchase the practice and acquire commercial properties.
A bank loan can be an attractive option. Banks will lend you 80% of the total property valuation, usually less than the market price. Some financial institutions may even be willing to lend up to 100% of the valuation.
Construction Expenses
Construction costs typically include expenses incurred during the construction process, including estimation quantities of completed work or trade items needed. A feasibility estimate will provide you with a good approximation of the total cost of your project.
You can prepare these estimations and calculations under the budgeting and planning sections of your business plan. Besides construction expenses estimations, you will also need to understand your budget estimations too. The practice owner undertakes this estimation to calculate in advance what the total cost of setting up the clinic will be.
“Tender estimates” are another important consideration in financial planning. This factor involves a detailed estimation of the total cost of the project. Tender Estimation helps the owner clearly define the project scope and design.
Taxation
Taxation typically includes land tax, council rates, stamp duty, and leasing and fit-out. In Australia, land tax is a kind of state tax calculated based on your property value which is your land in this example.
In Australia, municipal corporations are the entities that charge Council Rates on property improved values. On the other hand, state governments in Australia collect Stamp Duty on documents used in different transactions related to your private practice.
