FEATURE PRACTICE MANAGEMENT Building your orthotic practice Part 4: Growing and selling an orthotic dispensing practice W BY MARTIN DZIAK dispensation portion of her practice if she so chose – since this type of prac-tice is much less physically demanding – or she could have sold it. The previous example may never apply to you. However, one or more of the following scenarios most likely will: • If you became injured or ill, a viable orthotic practice could be main-tained while the clinical portion could be sold or an associate or locum doctor could continue to practice. • Should we chiropractors ever lose the right to dispense orthotics, we would have the option of hiring a professional that is deemed able to dispense orthotics to dispense the orthotics for us. They could be paid either hourly or per dispensation, and all appointments could be scheduled back to back. This way the chiropractor maintains the own-ership of these patients as well as the majority of the income stream. • The orthotic dispensation portion of a practice can be maintained post-retirement – this would main-tain some patient interaction for you, in an environment that is not very time consuming or physically demanding. • The clinical practice and orthotic dispensation practice could be sold together or separately to two di er-ent professionals, since a properly managed orthotic dispensing prac-tice has value to any professionals who already dispense orthotics as their primary purpose or as a part of what they do. This includes certifi ed pedorthists, podiatrists, physio-therapists or other chiropractors. e all recognize the importance that the rela-tionships with our patients have in building a successful practice. The tricky element of a prac-tice built on good relationships with patients is that, from a business perspec-tive, it can create much subjectivity or “goodwill” when it comes to identifying the value of your practice. Consequently, when a di erent practitioner is brought into our practice, some patients may not return because the new practitioner is di erent in personality and practice style. “ Goodwill is the probability that the same patrons will continue to patronize the same shop” is a sentence we’ve often seen, as business owners. The value of goodwill is determined by its transfer-ability so that another other person can capitalize on it. The custom orthotic dispensation portion of our practices can minimize the subjectivity of goodwill, especially if the proper systems are in place be-cause another practitioner can dupli-cate the exam, casting technique and orthotic design. This type of practice can be easy to reproduce, resulting in a higher goodwill factor, and therefore a higher patient retention upon transfer to another practitioner. Another advan-tage is that the orthotic dispensing portion of your practice can be sold separately or together with your clinical practice. However, again, this is only possible if you have the proper practice management systems in place. Clinical note Shortly after I opened my own practice, an associate joined me. She had had a busy and successful practice for years, but when she and her husband decided to have a family, she slowed her practice down to raise her children. She joined in with me after her children were in school for full days, with the intention of building her practice back up again. Unfortunately, she started having some health issues and on the advice of her doctors, family and friends, she decided to stop practising. When it came to assessing the value of her practice, the timing could not have been worse and essentially she had to walk away from it, without anything tangible to sell. She had been dispens-ing custom orthotics during the years of her practice, but did not have the systems in place to create a recur-ring, viable practice that could be sold for its ongoing income stream. What she had were a bunch of fi les with carbon paper copies of all of the orthotics that she had dispensed to her patients. If the correct systems had been put in place, she could have main-tained a viable orthotic practice before, during and after she raised her young children, if she so chose. As well, when faced with health challenges, she could have continued to practice the orthotic PROPER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MARTIN DZIAK, DC, CPEDC, is a chiropractor and certified pedorthist. Dr. Dziak is the creator of a customizable orthotic practice management software called ORTHOTRACK.ca. He can be reached at [email protected] or 1-888-337-7362. 30 Canadian Chiropractor July/August 2013 Proper information management sys-tems allow you to keep track of and have easy access to: www.canadianchiropractor.ca
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor July/August 2013: Page 30
