Medical Practice Strategy Consulting
Helping physicians build stronger, more sustainable practices
Running a medical practice requires physicians to make decisions that extend far beyond patient care. Physician owners must balance clinical priorities with financial performance, staffing, physician recruitment, growth, technology, competition, payer dynamics, and the long-term future of the practice.
ABISA provides medical practice strategy consulting to help physician owners understand where their practice stands, where it should go, and what needs to happen to get there. With decades of healthcare leadership and consulting experience, ABISA brings an operator’s perspective to the strategic challenges facing physician-owned practices.
Discuss Your Practice Strategy With ABISA
Your Practice Is a Business—And a Long-Term Asset
Physicians often spend years building their practices. The practice may represent:
- A significant financial asset
- A source of professional independence
- A team of employees
- Long-standing patient relationships
- Referral relationships
- A reputation within the community
- An opportunity for future growth
- A potential source of retirement value
Strategic decisions made today can affect all of those areas. ABISA helps physician owners step back from the day-to-day demands of running a practice and evaluate the larger picture.
Where Is Your Practice Going?
Strategic planning begins with understanding where you are today. Questions may include:
- Is the practice financially healthy?
- Are revenues growing?
- Are margins where they should be?
- Are physicians appropriately compensated?
- Is the practice adequately staffed?
- Can you recruit additional physicians?
- Are your facilities sufficient for future growth?
- Are you losing opportunities because of operational constraints?
- Is the practice dependent on one or two physicians?
- Are you prepared for a physician’s retirement?
- Are you positioned for a future transaction?
- Is remaining independent still the right long-term strategy?
There is no universal answer for every practice. The right strategy depends on the physicians, market, economics, objectives, and circumstances of the organization.
Strategic Planning for Physician Practices
ABISA can help physician owners develop a practical strategic plan addressing areas such as:
Financial Performance
Understanding revenue, expenses, margins, physician compensation, and the economic drivers of the practice.
Growth
Determining where sustainable growth may exist and what resources will be required to achieve it.
Physician Recruitment
Evaluating when and where additional physicians are needed and developing a strategy for recruitment.
Operations
Identifying operational constraints that may be limiting performance or growth.
Organization
Evaluating leadership, management, staffing, governance, and physician responsibilities.
Market Position
Understanding the competitive environment and opportunities within the practice’s market.
Ownership
Evaluating partnership, buy-in, buy-out, succession, and other ownership considerations.
Long-Term Planning
Preparing the practice for the next stage of its lifecycle.
Improve the Practice Before You Grow It
Growth is not always the first answer. A practice may need to address underlying operational issues before adding physicians, locations, or services. ABISA can help identify opportunities involving:
- Scheduling
- Staffing
- Revenue cycle
- Physician productivity
- Compensation
- Expense management
- Capacity
- Technology
- Reporting
- Administrative processes
Improving the existing operation can create a stronger foundation for future growth.
Physician Recruitment & Growth
For many physician practices, growth depends on the ability to recruit and retain physicians. But recruitment should be connected to a broader strategy. Before adding a physician, owners should consider:
- What specialty is needed?
- Where is the demand?
- What volume can the market support?
- Is there sufficient clinical capacity?
- What compensation will be required?
- How will the physician be integrated?
- What support staff will be needed?
- What facilities and equipment are required?
- How long will it take to reach productivity?
ABISA can help evaluate the business case for physician recruitment and expansion.
Expanding Your Practice
Growth can take many forms. Depending on the practice, opportunities may include:
- Adding physicians
- Adding specialties
- Opening a new location
- Expanding an existing location
- Increasing hours
- Adding procedures
- Adding ancillary services
- Improving physician productivity
- Developing new referral relationships
- Acquiring another practice
The right growth strategy depends on the practice’s market, resources, physicians, and financial capacity.
Financial Strategy
Strategic planning should ultimately connect to financial performance. ABISA can help physician owners evaluate:
- Revenue trends
- Operating margins
- Physician compensation
- Overhead
- EBITDA
- Cash flow
- Capital requirements
- Accounts receivable
- Revenue-cycle performance
- Investment requirements
The objective is not simply to increase revenue. It is to understand how strategic decisions affect the overall economics of the practice.
Physician Compensation & Alignment
Compensation can have a significant impact on physician behavior, financial performance, and physician retention. A practice may need to consider:
- Base compensation
- Productivity
- Collections
- Incentive compensation
- Partnership distributions
- Ownership economics
- Leadership compensation
- Call responsibilities
- Ancillary revenue
Compensation should support the strategic objectives of the organization while remaining understandable and sustainable.
Partnership & Ownership Strategy
Physician owners eventually face important ownership decisions. These may include:
- Bringing in a new partner
- Structuring a physician buy-in
- Buying out an existing partner
- Admitting additional owners
- Changing ownership percentages
- Transitioning ownership to the next generation
- Preparing for a future sale
These decisions should be considered within the broader strategic direction of the practice.
Preparing for a Future Sale
Physicians do not need to be ready to sell their practice today to benefit from strategic planning. A well-managed practice can be better positioned for a future transaction when it has:
- Strong financial reporting
- Sustainable earnings
- Well-managed operations
- Appropriate physician compensation
- A strong management structure
- Diversified revenue
- Stable physician relationships
- Clear ownership
- Documented processes
Strategic improvements made several years before a transaction can potentially have a meaningful effect on the practice’s readiness for that transaction.
Independence vs. Partnership
Physician owners may eventually consider whether to:
- Remain independent
- Add partners
- Join an MSO
- Enter a joint venture
- Sell to another practice
- Sell to a strategic buyer
- Sell to a private equity-backed organization
There is no single right answer. The important question is whether the structure supports the physicians’ clinical, financial, professional, and long-term objectives. ABISA helps physician owners evaluate these alternatives from an operational and business perspective.
MSO Considerations
An MSO can provide administrative infrastructure and management capabilities that may be difficult for an independent practice to build on its own. Potential services can include:
- Revenue cycle
- Finance
- Human resources
- Technology
- Procurement
- Marketing
- Practice management
- Strategic planning
But an MSO relationship also changes how the practice is managed and how certain decisions are made. Physician owners should understand both the potential benefits and the operational implications before entering into an arrangement.
Succession Planning
A practice’s future should not depend entirely on what happens when one physician decides to retire. Succession planning can address:
- Physician retirement
- New partner development
- Leadership transition
- Ownership transition
- Buy-outs
- Recruitment
- Practice valuation
- Patient continuity
- Management succession
Starting the process early gives physician owners more options.
Strategic Questions for Physician Owners
Some of the most important strategic questions may be simple:
Where are we today?
Understand the financial, operational, clinical, and organizational position of the practice.
Where do we want to be?
Define the desired future state.
What is preventing us from getting there?
Identify operational, financial, market, or organizational constraints.
What resources will we need?
Consider physicians, capital, staff, technology, facilities, and management.
What should we do first?
Prioritize initiatives rather than attempting to change everything simultaneously.
How will we measure progress?
Establish meaningful financial and operational measures.
Building a Strategic Roadmap
A useful strategic plan should ultimately become an action plan. ABISA can help organize priorities into areas such as:
Immediate Priorities
Issues requiring attention now.
Near-Term Initiatives
Projects that can improve performance or prepare the organization for growth.
Long-Term Objectives
Larger strategic initiatives requiring additional planning or investment.
Key Measures
Financial and operational metrics that indicate whether the strategy is working.
The objective is to create a roadmap that physician owners and management can actually use.
An Advisor Who Understands the Physician Perspective
Strategic planning is different when the people making the decisions are also physicians caring for patients. Physician owners often have to balance:
- Patient care
- Clinical quality
- Physician autonomy
- Employee needs
- Financial performance
- Growth
- Family and personal objectives
- Long-term financial security
ABISA understands that the strategic decision is rarely just a financial decision. It is a decision about the future of the practice and the physicians who built it.
Why ABISA?
Decades of Healthcare Experience
ABISA brings extensive experience across physician practice management, healthcare operations, finance, and strategic consulting.
Physician Practice Expertise
ABISA works from an understanding of the realities of physician-owned healthcare businesses.
Financial & Operational Perspective
Strategic recommendations are connected to the economics and operating realities of the practice.
Independent Perspective
ABISA provides an outside perspective without taking the place of the physician owners who ultimately make the decisions.
Long-Term Perspective
The goal is not simply to solve today’s problem. It is to help physician owners build a stronger organization for what comes next.
What Is the Next Stage for Your Practice?
Whether your goal is to strengthen an independent practice, grow into a larger organization, add physicians, develop a partnership, prepare for a transaction, or plan for succession, strategic planning can help clarify the path forward. ABISA helps physician owners evaluate where they are today, define where they want to go, and develop a practical strategy for getting there.