Evaluate new service-line opportunities

Physicians now have more ancillary-service opportunities than before. You can legally operate—and refer your own patients to—a variety of in-house medical services. New technologies have reduced the cost, complexity, and even size of the equipment needed to provide sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic procedures right in your office.

But before plunging into a new venture, take a step back and study the proposed new service thoroughly and objectively. By taking time to apply old-fashioned business planning techniques, you’ll make better decisions and improve your chances for success.

From the start, know why you want to offer the new service. You can find plenty of good reasons beyond increasing your income—not a bad reason in itself. Other good reasons include wanting to

• improve convenience for patients
• improve turn-around time for the ordered service
• make your practice more attractive to health plans and referrers
• lower healthcare costs by providing the service less expensively
• preventing losing patients to another practice offering the service. This nugget was adapted from Medical Office Financial Management: A Practical Primer, from Advisory Publications, a division of HCPro, Inc. Go to http://www.hcmarketplace.com/Prod.cfm?id=2096 or call our Customer Service Department at 800/650-6787 for more information or to order.