Costs to budget for when opening your opening medical practice

If you are a doctor, working for the state but yearning to start your own practice, then all power to you. It is a great dream and it is one that can be very rewarding. And it’s rewarding in many different ways. If you get it right, there can be massive financial benefits. There are social benefits in terms of the standing and respect that come with the role of the local doctor. Most importantly though is the reward of working for yourself and the thrill and excitement of what is essentially running your own business. But before you get there you will need to start saving, or prepare to take out a loan, because there are a number of things that you will have to buy, and expenses that you will have to incur before you will be good to go with your own rooms. Here are a few things that you have to consider saving for.

Key equipment

A medical room needs medical equipment. And as anyone who has qualified as a doctor will know, even the most basic pieces of diagnostic equipment are expensive – and impossible to operate a practice without. We are talking things like stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, ophthalmoscopes and items like syringes and scalpels. Naturally there is also the sterilising angle where machines like autoclaves or similar need to be acquired. Your local Melag rep will be standing by to receive your call, these are things that you cannot do without.

Soft furnishings

A medical practice is more than just a room with a bed, it is going to need some other elements as well. You will almost certainly have to kit out a waiting room for instance. A table for some magazines, some paintings for the walls and a few chairs or a couch. If you are going to have a receptionist, then they will also need a desk and chairs, and such like, and so will you. They all sound like simple items but it adds up quickly and before you know it you will have sunk a considerable amount of cash into this seemingly peripheral, non-medical, element of your practice.

An overdraft

Yes, it is almost unavoidable that you are going to need a line of credit from your bank. This is firstly to fund your set-up costs, secondly to help with cash-flow and thirdly to pay the bills that you will incur long before you see your first patient. Things like medical malpractice insurance for instance and a deposit on the rooms. It is a large amount of money to cover and you have to recognize that it will take a while before payments start to come in from your patients.

Computers

Any rooms will need to have computers and potentially even a network of interconnected machines. This means costs in a number of places. It is the hardware that you will have to buy – a machine for yourself and one for the receptionist, printers, scanners etc – and also the fees that will have to be paid to somebody who will network it all. A network person will connect all your internal hardware but potentially also connect you to the broader hospital network as well.