Six Steps to Expand Your Private Practice and Offer New Services

One of the best “problems” as a private practice is to be busy enough to expand and offer new services.

However, doing so requires careful planning and preparation to maximize the likelihood your investments pay off.

This article covers several steps to expanding your private practice and offering new services.

1. Evaluate Your Practice as it Stands

First, assess your practice’s situation as it stands. Take stock of key items like:

• Services you offer: Do you meet patient needs, or are there additional services you could offer to fill gaps?
• Patient base: How many patients do you have, and what are the demographics like (old vs. young, single individuals vs. families, and so on)?
• Business financials: Are you financially healthy? What do your revenues, expenses, profits, and cash flows look like? Could investments in certain areas make improvements?
• Systems and processes: How efficient are your workflows? Is patient satisfaction strong? Does your staff have sufficient capacity to handle your current patient load?

Noting these things gives you a comprehensive picture of your current state, allowing you to identify strengths and opportunities for growth and improvement in your practice without compromising care quality.

This can guide your decision-making and resource allocation when it comes to expansion.

2. Research Demand

You could add a wide range of services to your practice, but they will not succeed if there is no demand for them.

Conduct thorough market research to identify what services patients may desire and what your current market does not provide sufficiently.

For example, do many patients routinely need or seek certain specialties? This may reveal untapped opportunities that could help you increase patient retention and revenue per patient.

Evaluate local demographic trends and shifts as well. For instance, if busy young professionals flock to your area, you may explore telemedicine. Telemedicine saves busy patients and providers time and can work well for tech-savvy younger patients.

Regardless, knowing what services patients need will help you add new services and specialties with the highest likelihood of turning a profit and helping you grow.

3. Upgrade and Expand Your Facility

Physical changes may be necessary if your practice has healthy demand and is reaching capacity.

Assess your current space and see if it can accommodate your needs for staff, providers, equipment, and additional patients. You may need to add more offices and special equipment or, in some cases, move to a larger building entirely.

Regardless, these improvements boost efficiency, enhance the patient’s experience, and set the groundwork for continued expansion if your practice continues to grow.

One other benefit of upgrading your facility is the reputation it leaves. Modern, well-equipped facilities leave a stronger first impression on patients, increasing their trust in your practice and causing them to stick with you.

While expansions and upgrades can offer significant ROI, many practices lack the cash to pay entirely out of pocket. Securing financing, such as a business line of credit, can help you cover these costs at reasonable rates by stretching your funds further.

4. Invest in Additional Education

Investing in additional education, such as courses, certifications, and conferences, helps you gain the skills and credentials needed to offer additional services while positioning your practice as cutting-edge to patients.

Doing this also helps you stay on top of medical developments and industry trends, such as telemedicine or regulatory changes, so that you can navigate the ever-changing healthcare landscape.

This expands to your staff, not just other medical providers in your practice. Investing in continuing education for everyone in the office can pay off.

Offering tuition reimbursement or expense-paid trips to relevant conferences will increase the value every staff member brings and make them more satisfied with their work, increasing employee retention.

5. Hire Specialists and Other Staff

The previous steps laid the groundwork for one of the most crucial aspects of expansion — hiring new specialists and other staff.

Let’s say you noticed many young families are moving to your neighborhood. Bringing a pediatrician into your practice could help you win new business, especially if competitors have not caught on yet.

Office staff are crucial, too. Hiring more administrative and technical personnel allows you to handle increased patient volume and increase your practice’s efficiency, ultimately improving the patient experience.

Try not to spare too many expenses here. Investing more time and resources in the recruitment process and paying more for the best specialists and staff could offer significant ROI by boosting demand and solidifying patient retention.

6. Expand and Diversify Your Marketing

Investing in more expensive and diverse marketing is key to reaching new patients and promoting your improved practice.

Start with local SEO by optimizing your site for search engines and setting up or updating your Google My Business profile. This will help you land at the top of digital search results, boosting new patient trust and winning more business.

Add testimonials, especially video testimonials, from patients to your site to boost trust further.

Other marketing strategies include:

• Paid digital ads: Online ad campaigns you can pay for. A winning campaign can offer a positive ROI for a long time.
• Email marketing: Keep current patients in the loop about your practice and stay top of mind to solidify loyalty.
• Local ads: Billboards and signage in high-traffic areas, print ads in local papers and magazines, and flyers/posters in community centers are just a few ideas for reaching potential patients.

Diversifying your strategy helps you reach a broader audience to boost your practice.

Take Your Private Practice to the Next Level

If your practice is booming, it may be time to expand it and add new services.

First, evaluate your practice as it stands, then research your market. After understanding your market, upgrade your facilities, invest in continuing education, hire new specialists and staff, and diversify your marketing strategy.

Smart decision-making in these areas could help you create a thriving practice for years to come.