Physician private practice

The transition of government to physician private practice and vice versa is a highly controversial leap within the medical industry. This change is so common among physicians that companies have developed with the sole purpose of setting doctors up in their own physician private practice and guiding them through all the cons and red tape associated with the setup or joining of such a business outside of the government sector. The first step to joining or owning a successful physician private practice operation is to set aims and objectives for the business to reach, be realistic and have a goal time limit which creates motivation for success.

The transition from government institutions to physician private practice involves many difficult start up operations to create a professional practice environment. The set up of the premises is very relevant as regards the location in relation to a physician’s target group and whether the doctor is specialized, for example an eye specialist. The reception area is very important as this is the first part of the premises seen by patients, the entire layout should be ergonomically set up and well thought out, for example private, easy patient access to bathrooms and organized room positioning for the physician. Private practice business has to consider staff; this includes reception, administration, possibly a nurse, as well as training them and providing them with contracts including a full job description.

In the physician private practice industry, systems play a large role in the success of the rooms, payment, billing and patient record systems must all be set up, along with operations like equipment and supplies, putting control systems in place, compliance checks, outside assessors and analysis of processes by the physician. Private practice offices must be aware of and employ private risk assessors, compliancy policy and cover in the event of negligence, accidents and possible law suits.

Physician private practice must also register with medical aids and care as third party payments, so that patients who have medical aid can pay via this option automatically. Private patients wishing to settle their own account should also be able to do so. The practice requires a financial authority to draw up their books, fee structuring and income versus expenditure.

The discussion on the topic of the pros and cons based upon government versus physician private practice can be tossed back and forth; ultimately the solution depends on the physician, their knowledge and specialization. Physician private practice perhaps seems to hold more status and financial gain than government run institutions which has prompted a lot of doctors to go private. To an extent in the private field there is more freedom as regard opening times, on call after hours duty and the working environment is generally more pleasant in the physician private practice arena, whereas government institutions suffer problems like lack of equipment and amenities due to low funding or stealing, thus causing these practices to make a financial loss. Contributing to this is the fact that in general these no –private centres are located in lower income areas for easy access by the people that need the amenities most, unfortunately this generally means that many injuries are crime related as many patients cannot pay for treatments.

Of course physician private practice has its cons like having to implement the previously mentioned functions in order to maintain a successfully run practice. Many doctors find it challenging to work as a physician and in a lot of cases own and manage the business at the same time, this often leads to many spouses becoming involved or dragged into the running of the practice, this takes its toll on the family. The patient intake in physician private practice doesn’t decrease and often the revenue doesn’t increase along with the serious problem of struggling with third party payments like medical aids, to get the money out of them or the patients.

It is thus important to weigh up the pros and cons when considering the transition from government to physician private practice or even vice versa, although it is the general trend to become a private doctor after doing time with a non private institution. Physician private practice creates incentive and is rewarding, along with stipulated control measures and hard work.