Author: Owen J. Dahl, MBA
Publisher: Greenbranch Publishing – 210 pages
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani
This book is essentially about helping you, the doctor, become a better business man or woman, and in the process, empowering you to become a more successful care provider with happier patients who stay with you for a long time, even an entire lifetime.
It has 12 chapters focusing on as many key business aspects of your practice, namely: business organization and purpose; planning; quality; human resources; process, systems and efficiency; marketing; financial management; compliance; knowledge management and decision-making; change management; case studies on operational, strategic and big change; and the future of your business.
This book is short and compact, and provides a focused approach to achieving what the title states: a quality practice that results in satisfied patients, that is also efficient and profitable. I believe that what works best for you the busy doctor is just about enough and comprehensive information to adequately handle the business side of your practice without getting into too much detail that a large or lengthy book on the business of medicine would provide.
The author Owen Dahl points out that most medical schools, while teaching students medicine, do not teach them how to start and manage a medical practice of their own. So unless a doctor makes his living working in a hospital, he is ill-equipped to run his own practice, with all the attendant challenges of hiring and managing employees, records and finances in addition to caring for his patients who are also his customers.
Should you need detailed information on any given business issue in your practice, you can consult with any of the various consultants out there who specialize in medical practice management, and have a good amount of experience in this area. Or you can get answers to your specific questions about allowable tax deductions from your accountant or about legal issues from a lawyer.
This book adequately fills much of the medical practice management gap in the minds of most medical practitioners. The author Owen J. Dahl has nearly 40 years of experience in helping doctors run their practices, including being manager of a practice with 65 physicians and $75 million in revenues. He has also been involved in assisting major medical societies develop certification programs.
Among other subjects, this book provides you an understanding of the fundamentals of finance in your practice; recruiting and hiring good people as your employees who will be an asset to you, and building team spirit among them; marketing essentials, including how to stand out from your medical competitors; providing quality care and building good relationships with patients so they stay as your long-term customers; and most importantly, learning key strategies to increase the bottom line of your business.
The author points out some of the challenges you face as the owner of a medical business and points out possible solutions. He makes the point that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for the problems and issues you face. But he helps you think though each problem and come up with the answer that works best for you, given your medical specialty, your knowledge, your location, your values, and other factors.
Here are some of those challenges enumerated below. Think about each one, jot down what you think are the solutions, then get the book, read it and find more solutions that you did not even think existed:
- You are facing constant decreases in reimbursements from Medicare programs
- You have continued pressure from managed care carriers
- The public is more informed of their rights and your responsibilities
- Competition in increasing from other practitioners in your medical specialty an from ‘redi-clinics’ in retail outlets dispensing simple services and products
- Costs of doing business are rising – higher property taxes, higher utility rates, etc.
- More paperwork to fill out to get different forms of reimbursement
- An aging population demanding more services, with same amount of payment.
- New technology and equipment that reduces your profit margin.
There are other demands on your money, time and lack of knowledge that is making medical practice increasingly stressful. To alleviate that stress, this book can provide you some relief. Who else can help you better than a highly experienced medical practice management specialist like Owen J. Dahl?
