How to Afford Your Private Practice: Ways to Fund Starting Up and How to Keep It Going Strong By Dr. Chris E. Stout and Grace Wang Introduction This chapter will examine the costs and approaches to meeting the expenses that are involved in starting a private practice. Readers may be surprised in realizing what should be considered in calculating the cost of doing business when opening and running a private practice. Likewise, they may be surprised with the options available to them for paying off these expenses as well. Welcome to being an entrepreneur! Many clinicians may not consider themselves entrepreneurs or small (or large) business owners, but they are. Many healthcare providers may not have academic training or any prior experience in business operations, management, budgeting, marketing, contracting, or the other myriad of associated aspects of running a practice. But regardless of this, in order to be successful and sustainable in their work of helping others, they will need to. And arguably, the most critical aspect of establishing and running a practice is the financial. Maintaining a practice is predicated on being able to earn as much as it costs to provide the service(s), and maintaining a livelihood predicated on being able to make a profit. If a clinician cannot breakeven vis-Ă -vis costs of operation and fees collected, he or she will go out of business at
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