The Most Important Thing Private Practice Owners Can Do For Themselves During the Holidays
The holidays can either be a tremendously stressful or enjoyable time of year. Your private practice is no exception. For many years, we have seen the happiest docs enjoy the extra bump from unique December marketing programs and promotions. These help keep the fun quotient up, and actually drive more members into their practices!
These are some of the keys to making private practice support the realities of the life you wish to create for yourself.
It is a choice, and it does take a powerful strategy.
This is also the time year where you need to take a very hard look at what has worked well, and focus on improving and doing more for the year to come.
For example, patient types, care plans that patients endorse readily, as well as complementary services including personalized care plans, consulting, telemedicine, and expanded self-care your patients may have requested. What do you do more of and what you let go?
The same applies to staffing, and maybe even some of your office systems. This year, it is perhaps more important than ever before.
You should use any extra downtime you have the holidays to work on your plan, so that going into the first week in January your plan is already full in place.
Seriously, take a hard look at your office hours, your fee schedules, but especially your own self-care!
Don’t be afraid to set new goals for yourself. This is one of the keys to making private practice support the realities of the life you wish to create for yourself.
Now, this won’t happen by itself. It doesn’t make a difference if you are new in practice, or have been there for a long time.
Plan now to begin the New Year with excitement, rather than dread. You can do this—let us help!
I am not very creative. I was looking at this post for a list of creative things I can do. What I found was just a rah-rah cheerleader like post. I have a core of deeply devoted patients but I am at a standstill and am not sure on creative measures to make this time of year great.
John, did you say down time? What means this “down time”?