Tips for Managing a Practice

A guide to when it's advisable to hire administrative help for your practice, when to outsource and when to hire someone part- or full-time.

The business of practice is growing increasingly complicated. Developing a business mindset can help psychologists thrive in today's marketplace.

Most psychologists must deal with business issues such as budgeting, contracts, billing and marketing. Learning the language of business will help you communicate, advance your career, tap into new markets and manage the business aspects of your practice.

A business plan helps you set goals and guides decisions about how to achieve your goals. It can also help you communicate with those who might use your services and get small business loans and new contracts.

Creating a client-friendly practice involves a good office environment, accessibility, sensible scheduling, helpful staff, and privacy and confidentiality.

Consult this list of actions and considerations that you may need to attend to when closing a psychology practice.

Psychologists collaborate with physicians to provide a range of services and to treat patients with a variety of disorders. For example, they help patients make lifestyle changes, such as smoking cessation, or manage their medical illness, such as by adhering to a diabetes treatment regimen.

Tips on using practice consultants, such as setting clear goals, asking for references, interviewing and making informed decisions.

How to assess your administrative needs, write a job description, determine pay and benefits, advertise the position and hire staff.

Unexpected and often uncontrollable events have the potential to threaten your practice and your financial future. This article outlines some of the insurance options, including professional liability and other types of coverage, that practitioners should consider.

Potential job applicants make decisions about applying for a position based on the job description; therefore, carefully constructing it will help you attract the most qualified people.

Having a mission statement helps you communicate who you are and what professional services you offer, gives you a clear professional identity, assists strategic planning and decision making, keeps staff and partners on the same page and provides a sense of direction.

In evaluating new opportunities for your practice, consider things like your practice, the environment, the target market and the competition.

Tips for finding new professional opportunities, such as identifying new employers, networking and posting your CV or resume.

Your practice policies and procedures manual should address organizational mission and structure, administrative procedures, facility management, client record policies, human resource issues and workplace health and safety.

The pros and cons of renting or buying office space, such as flexibility, maintenance, equity and landlords.

Introducing practice areas that provide opportunities for non-insurance-based services, such as forensics, organizational consulting and life coaching. Also tips on how to find the market and develop your business.

This article profiles three practitioners who have successfully incorporated self-pay services into their practices, leaving managed care and health insurance behind.

When psychologists retire, relocate or shift their focus to a new professional activity, few consider selling their practices. The relative rarity of a successful practice sale, coupled with a lack of available resources to guide practitioners through this challenging endeavor, leads most to simply "close up shop." In doing so, they miss valuable opportunities that can provide lasting benefits to their clients, community and the next generation of professional psychologists

Before selling your practice, you should get a professional appraisal, be willing to compromise and know the tax consequences.

Learn business strategies like selling your practice, streamlining your office, hiring administrative staff, corporate relations, locating new pratice opportunities and more.

When it comes to office operations, you can achieve more by doing less. By reducing the complexity and number of steps you take to operate your practice, you can get more done in a shorter time and with less effort.

Learn about the legal, ethical and administrative issues faced when supervising others, such as record keeping, boundaries, informed consent, scheduling and performance evaluations.

Utilize our practice management tools like understanding your target clientele, charting your professional mission, corporate relations, tracking client sources and DSM-IV Codes to ICD-9-CM Codes.

Your professional CV provides a summary of your academic and employment history and professional activities and organizes them into a few easy-to-navigate categories.

Learn to hire a good accountant, polish youtr business skills, understand common contract pitfalls, negotiate equipment and determine your own salary.