You’re finally taking the big leap. You’re leaving your current medical practice to start up your own. It’s likely both a scary and exciting time for you. Despite what a thrill it is to be creating something all your own, it’s still overwhelming in the sense that you’re heading out into unfamiliar waters with hopes that you can attain enough patients to make your new practice a successful one. But if you do it right, you’ll be able to practice medicine your way.
While networking with care centers, hospitals, and other types of doctors to try to generate references to gain patients is a big priority at the outset, there’s another big task you have on your hands—setting up your new medical office. You’ll need equipment, medical office supplies, a means of medical billing, and more.
Fortunately, The Supplies Shops is here to help by acting as your go-to medical office supply resource. Read through this guide to learn more about some of the items you’ll need to set up your office.
A billing system is arguably one of the most important aspects to a successful medical practice. An effective and efficient billing system is a means of making sure you’re getting paid and that regular cash flow is coming into your office. This is a complex task, so you’ll need trained staff as well as the right equipment and supplies.
You have two options when it comes to getting your medical billing system all set up and ready to go. The first option is to find a system that can accomplish billing, filing claims, and auditing, and bring these operations in-house. The second option is to outsource your medical billing operations so that you don’t have to worry about it. This is the first big decision you’ll have when starting your new practice.
One of the biggest benefits of managing things in-house is saving money. That’s easy to do when you shop for healthcare patient forms for medical offices and other billing paperwork and filing necessities at The Supplies Shops.
When it comes to medical office supplies, we’re not just talking patient gowns, cotton swabs, band-aids, gauze and other items that are commonly used in the doctor’s office. Instead, we’re also thinking about medical office supplies for administrative purposes. These items are just as important to setting up a functioning office as the supplies used directly in patient care.
Medical security paper is a big must-have, for example, as you need to respect and protect patient privacy. Other important supplies include copy paper to populate patient files, confidential sign-in logs, medical office intake forms, checks and security paper for billing and receiving, and stock paper for other administrative tasks. Make sure you have plenty of these essentials on hand when you open.
There’s also the task of acquiring medical equipment. You have to consider everything from small, simple things for checkups like stethoscopes and other instruments, to more advanced things like X-ray machines, heart monitors, EKG kits and more. As a new practice, you have to decide what services you’re going to perform beyond the basic checkups, physicals and wellness visits in-house, and what you’re going to outsource by referring patients to your affiliated hospital and labs.
Of course, this equipment must also take into account any maintenance supplies, including the sterilization and disinfectant chemicals you’ll surely need as well as needles and instruments for minor surgical procedures. To simplify things, make a master list of everything you need and keep it on hand so you can note when you run out and need to reorder.
There’s a lot more to opening a new medical practice than just what we’ve mentioned above. For instance, are you going to have a lab on-site where patients can have blood drawn? Where are you going to get your pharmaceutical supplies and medications from? What specialists are you going to refer patients to for areas that are beyond your particular expertise? These are all important questions that need to be answered before you open the doors to your practice and begin seeing patients.
Starting your own medical practice is a big undertaking. That’s why it’s important to properly plan ahead for growth, and make sure that all the essentials are covered before you start taking patients. This will allow you to spend less time worrying about the little things and more time doing what you started your own practice for in the first place—taking care of your patients. So before you open to the public, spend some time considering the details that will make your practice run efficiently before you open your doors.