How possible would it be to start a small shop and see patients in my off-time?

[DerpyNeuroMD]

Hi guys! I loved my neuro clerkship and I'm applying to neuro next year. I also like business/entrepreneurship and tend to dream about fun projects. I was thinking it would be fun to run a small, lean practice and see patients alongside my real job (which I guess may be 7 on, 7 off to start). I'd like to have a small office with a couple of rooms, doing as much as I can myself just to learn the ropes of running my own private practice. My wife is in business so I figure it would be a fun project for a us both. Maybe we could also hire an MA and outsource any of the other annoying parts. Also, fwiw, I was a software engineer for a number of years and have set up hipaa compliant networks, so I think maybe I could shave off some of the bigger startup costs by doing it myself.

Is this feasible? It seems like neurology might be the best specialty in medicine for doing this, given its current huge demand (assuming a little regional market research is done beforehand). If anyone has started their own practice, do you have any suggested readings? Also what might be the bare minimum investment to pull something like this off?

Cheers

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deathmerchant]

Hi guys! I loved my neuro clerkship and I'm applying to neuro next year. I also like business/entrepreneurship and tend to dream about fun projects. I was thinking it would be fun to run a small, lean practice and see patients alongside my real job (which I guess may be 7 on, 7 off to start). I'd like to have a small office with a couple of rooms, doing as much as I can myself just to learn the ropes of running my own private practice. My wife is in business so I figure it would be a fun project for a us both. Maybe we could also hire an MA and outsource any of the other annoying parts. Also, fwiw, I was a software engineer for a number of years and have set up hipaa compliant networks, so I think maybe I could shave off some of the bigger startup costs by doing it myself.

Is this feasible? It seems like neurology might be the best specialty in medicine for doing this, given its current huge demand (assuming a little regional market research is done beforehand). If anyone has started their own practice, do you have any suggested readings? Also what might be the bare minimum investment to pull something like this off?

Cheers

You mean a private practice on the side and be an employed physician as a main job?. It’s not an uncommon path, esp in a small town. Many neurologists do this.
There are many issues though: non compete clause from the hospital would be a big one unless you don’t get employed by the hospital and just take call there.
Obviously private practice is hard to run mostly because of Increasing overhead, increasing quality measures requirements and dealing with insurance companies. Usually there is 40-50% overhead in a small practice. You will have to see a lot of patients to keep it profitable.