If you are thinking of starting a telemedicine practice, you may already have a business plan in mind. However, that is not enough — you will also need to have something written down on paper or typed out on screen. If your plans are all in your head, it’s time to start putting them into reality, and the first step is to create a business plan.
Read on to find out how you can craft a telehealth business plan that will lead to success for your practice!
Create A Vision
Every business plan begins with a vision. This will tie together your beliefs, your goals and how you foresee everything coming together. While this process is particularly important for goal setting, keep in mind that it is not a business plan.
A business plan takes things one step further, where you will outline how you are going to achieve your goals instead of merely stating that those are your goals. This includes taking care of the practical details such as having a medical practice compliance plan in place.
Research and Plan
To get started on your business plan, you will need to do ample research and preparation. Think about it like taking an exam in school: before the big day, you will need to take notes, read, review, research and even prepare flash cards. The same goes for putting together a business plan. You don’t want to just dive into it without any background knowledge or research. Think about the practical aspects such as marketing, budgeting and keeping in compliance. You can break it down into four aspects to make things easier.
First, you will need to determine who your target market is. Will your practice focus solely on children or older adults, or will you be taking in all types of patients? Once you have made that decision, do some research on whether there is anyone out there doing something similar to you. From there, you will need to figure out your unique selling point. What sets you apart from the other NPs who also specialize in pediatrics? This can be the number of years of experience you have, the fact that you have specialized knowledge in a niche area, or anything else that your competitors lack.
Next, you will want to think about your pricing and reimbursement strategies. To determine how much you should charge for your services, you should first look up what other practitioners are charging for similar services. Then, you can decide whether you should price a little over or under it, keeping in mind what you are looking to offer. For instance, if it is your goal to establish yourself as an elite brand, you may wish to charge a little more than market rate. From there, you also must decide whether you are going to take cash, insurance or a combination of reimbursement methods.
Finally, you will want to come up with a marketing plan. How are you going to let potential customers know about the services you are offering? Are you going to build an attractive website or are you going to spend more on other aspects of drawing in customers? These are all things you have to decide and back up with research paving the way for action.
Use Your Business Plan as a Benchmark for Progress
Your NP business plan is not something to be discarded and tossed aside after you have started your practice. Instead, you should make it a habit to come back to your business plan from time to time, as it makes a useful benchmark for you to track your progress against. A key question to ask yourself is: are things falling into place the way you have set out to do it? If not, what adjustments do you need to make to get yourself back on track? Or do you prefer the way things have turned out, and would rather go in that direction? If so, it may be time to make a new business plan.
One important thing to remember when writing a healthcare business plan is that it does not have to be super detailed. If you are having trouble, you can make use of medical practice marketing plan templates to get you started. There are also many books out there that can help you with outlining a business plan.
Having a Business Plan Increases Your Chances of Success
Did you know that having a business plan makes it 30% more likely your venture will grow? That’s right- it has been proven that people who actually sit down and make a plan have a greater chance of success! It’s never too late to get started on drafting a business plan if you don’t already have one — all you need to do is take a few steps back and make it happen.
In addition, if you need help with finding a collaborating physician to make your telemedicine practice a success, please contact Collaborating Docs to find out how we can help you. In the meantime, feel free to check out our customer testimonials and hear it first hand from the NPs we have helped. Regardless of which state you are practicing in, we can connect you to a collaborating physician within 14 days, or we will give you a full refund!
