I’ve heard this question weekly, if not daily, for now four decades, but the last year or two, the question is nearing Green Eggs and Ham status…
It gets asked here, it gets asked there. It gets asked everywhere. It gets asked in the dark (and light). It gets asked in a car, on a train, in tree, and in the rain. It gets asked on a boat and maybe even to a goat. In a house, and perhaps to a mouse. It gets asked in as many or more places as green eggs and ham gets eaten!
And of course, colleagues, that question is… drumroll please… What is the future of private practice?! And in a word, based on working with private practice owners every day these decades, including during the Virus Era, including this very month, week and day, it’s BRIGHT!
I was most recently reminded of the scrupulous questioning of the future of private practice yesterday, when a colleague and long-time friend, who has for decades been thriving in private practice and always looking out for the profession, shared his concern that private practice is largely missing in the conversation where aspiring and young optometrists are being wooed to career directions, even including some of the schools. So at ground-zero of practice mode consideration and decision making, private practice is at best underrepresented, and with 80 percent-plus of our future colleagues saying they desire private practice going in, and only a small fraction of that actually pursuing it coming out, he’s concerned and so am I.
Without a doubt, this colleague’s answer to our Green Eggs and Ham question is “YES, SAM I AM! … I would do private practice here, I would do private practice there. I would do private practice everywhere. I would do private practice in the dark, I would do private practice in a car, on a train, in a tree and in the rain. I would do private practice in boat, with a goat, in a house and with a mouse… Like Green Eggs and Ham, the answer is YES SAM I AM! Yes to private practice!”
That said, despite his success in and advocacy for private practice, this colleague and I discussed our shared concern for this lack of private practice emphasis among the options toward which some influencers are steering young colleagues. This took us on a stroll down memory lane together, back to a time when Doctors Brad Williams and Jim Devine and I had the wonderful experience of bringing the private practice story, along with other important life focuses, to optometry students in a program we created called Pathways in Optometry that took North American optometry schools by storm for the ensuing decade-plus. And this stroll led to a very exciting discussion about possibilities for doing that all again, which is a discussion that will continue. (Funny how history repeats itself, isn’t it, all the way back to 1989 in this case!)
So given all the nay-sayers in our day, Tom, what makes you feel the private practice future is so bright?
For starters, although certainly not without contemporary versions of lifelong challenges (perhaps keeping fully staffed and the team on a roll representing the apex of that today), I’ve not seen private practices or private practice owners do better than we’re seeing right now. Right during all the naysaying, and right during a pandemic. That doesn’t mean it’s easier than it was – in fact, I’d say it’s a good bit more challenging. But I remember a day when we’d be speaking at conventions and it was all about growth, growth, growth – how can I grow my practice – and although that is still and always will be a worthy, gallant and challenging pursuit, there’s been enough growth in well run private practices that growth has actually slipped to more like the number two ore even lower reason (still Top Five for sure) many colleagues cite for seeking consulting help. Number one today, hands down (and largely due to “careful what you wish for” type growth in private practices!), is help me get my arms around this beast, keep my team right, and control my life better! The proverbial nice problem(s) to have, right?
So despite the chains that were going to do us in, then the big box stores that were going to do us in, then the internet competition that was going to do us in, and managed care that was going to do us in, and today big money buyer-uppers gobbling-up practices like the Pack-Man and today’s labor challenges and funky economy that will supposedly do us in (and the list goes on), we’re still here. Still as independent as we ever were, and frankly, despite all the naysaying, every bit as successful. Even more so.
Perhaps you’re being tempted to think with colleagues who consider traditional practice ownership an endangered species. Understandable, given all the negative noise about the future and the way industry outsiders have influenced the profession. But I encourage we know this: there absolutely is a place for thriving private practice – YOUR practice and one day YOUR SUCCESSOR’S practice – now and in the future. All day long there is. All DECADES long there is. As required in most challenges, however, we’re going to need to be deliberate to fully realize that place. We’re going to need to make our success happen because we choose to do so and go there, rather than managing by hope with fingers crossed.
We’ll talk more about that in Part Two, but for the moment, let’s look at a Quick Ten Things We Have Going For Us right now as we think about the future of our private practices.
1. The data are in and holding – People still value vision as a tip-top health concern. Check.
2. Provided they understand the differences (which we need to teach them), most consumers, today as much as ever, opt for the higher quality of care. Let the price warriors battle to the ends of the earth, while we double down on what we do best, which is relationship. Check.
3. You’re providing serious, full-on health care for your patients, and they get that. They look to you as the one to lead them forward to best vision and best life. Check.
4. You’re also in the wellness business, and wellness is hot! Unlike so many in the health care business, your patients don’t have to have something terrible happening to fully patronize you. They NEED you, they WANT you and they COME TO you…even when all is well. There has never been a greater opportunity to fully and completely meet the needs and wants of your patients than right now, in this day (which is why folks out there want to buy your practice!). Check.
5. Wellness care is much more predictable and manageable than sickness care, and much more affordable – both to provide the care and consume it. Patients get your undivided attention, doctor, and your most comprehensive diagnostic work, for exponentially less then they pay for anything like that kind of focus and work in healthcare. Where else in healthcare is there such an absurd bargain? If we teach patients to value that (as we’ve been discussing in the recent Podlectures), they do! Check.
6. As the end user of your practice, regardless of what’s included in my plan, I can buy whatever I want there. I can use what my plan includes as a voucher toward what I want, not just mandate of what I can have as some would have me believe. Check.
7. More and more colleagues are being more and more deliberate not just about how busy they are, but how they are busy. We’re making choices, leveraging our teams and managing third-party impact to be productive, not just to be busy. We’re choosing to MANAGE production (I define manage as choosing to control an outcome), and that makes for great outcomes. Check.
8. Because people value these things, we average double-digit New Patient Percentage most months (since starting MetCHECK Metrics Tracking, this metric ebbs and flows in the 18 – 25 percent range). That’s a lot of new water coming into the glass, and if we’re taking care of business with patient retention (and I realize that’s an important if),we can’t help but overflow the glass. When properly managing our practice vitals, New Patient Percentage is a crystal ball for future growth, and it looks good out there in the future! Check.
9. Even today, there are more adults without a vision plan than with one. Lots of consumers are making their own choices, and many of us in private practice are offering excellent Vision Benefit and VIP Patient Programs attracting a lot of private payers. So not just growing… growing right! Check.
10. The data are in and holding. We keep watching those vital signs, keep reporting those metrics (it’s great to be doing that together!), and for the most part, we’re booked up and performing well. Check.
11. (Bonus 11th thing we have going for us) We enjoy our work. It changes lives every day. How many colleagues have I heard say they’re in no hurry to fully retire because they love what they do? When you love what you do, it powers success in what you do. And success powers more success. Check.
Are you feeling good about the future – YOUR future … in private practice? I hope so, because YOU SHOULD BE! (again, why do you think big money wants to buy your practice?!). So now that we’ve discussed why private practice naysaying is all wet, and that private practice should be heavily in the conversation everywhere practice options are being discussed, let’s toss out a few strategies that will keep us winning. We’ll pick it up right there next time!
Like all THRIVE content, the purpose of BOWEN’S BLOG and SUMMIT TALK Podlecture conversations is to keep us driving together toward IMPACT. If something here has struck a chord, shoot us an email at Tbowen@mythrivecoaches.com or or give us a call at 402-794-4064 and let’s talk it out!