As a Naturopathic Doctor who owns and runs your own practice, you have so many exciting options when it comes to designing a practice that not only helps your patients, but it also fits you, your lifestyle and your income goals.
Most NDs when they open their own practice first bought into the very traditional, old school, model of a “Natural Health Clinic”. They leased or bought a brick and mortar space, created beautiful treatments rooms and reception area, a dispensary and comfortable waiting area for patients to sit while waiting for their appointment with the doctor.
Once they opened for business, they marketed their services as personal, scheduled one on one appointments, just the same way most MDs provide service. But knowing how little time most patients get to spend with their MD, Naturopathic Doctors wanted to be different, they wanted to stand out, be unique, offer a deeper connection with their patients to educate and explain how Natural Medicine works by getting to the root cause of the patients symptoms and correcting the problem for the long term without potentially harmful drugs.
To achieve that goal they marketed and communicated how much time they spend with their patients, typical new patient intake appointments are scheduled for 90 minutes or more then follow up appointment vary from 30-60 minutes depending on the complexity of the patients health issues.
It is a beautiful, effective model that has served many doctors and patients well over the years.
However, it comes with some very obvious challenges:
- It limits the number of patients the doctor can help in a week/month/year
- It limits the ability to grow revenue and income other than raising rates, work more hours or hire more people
- It requires the doctor to be physically present in the clinic every week and take an allotted amount of time for vacation or travel, similar to what an employee gets
- It’s high overhead with much of the revenue going to the property owner or leasing company
- The biggest problem: It’s not scalable and doctors are burning out more than ever trying to keep up with the demands on their schedule and their income!
The good news…
In today’s modern world there are all kinds of new and alternative practice models for Naturopathic Doctors to add or transition to that are completely scalable, helps more patients, offers more freedom with unlimited income potential.
For years I’ve been telling my clients, who are all Naturopathic Doctors, don’t design a practice model and then try to make your life fit your model. Instead, design a life you want, and create a practice model that provides for that life and lifestyle.
For example:
- Want to help more local patients without hiring more staff? Consider group appointments or signature programs.
- Want to have more income? Consider selling solutions & stop selling time.
- Want to travel more? Consider more telemedicine or online programs
- Want more reliable recurring revenue? Consider membership models
All of these options and more are available to you.
In our ND Achievers Club we have several doctors who have switched away from the traditional model into an alternative model of care. Some were downright scared to make the switch, but afterwards, they are delighted to discover the freedom, the income and the lifestyle they now enjoy.
If you want to learn how you can transition some or all of your patients to a different model of care that fits you better, I invite you to schedule a time to talk about how I can help you achieve your goals faster through our ND Achievers Club coaching program.
Apply Here
Let’s enjoy the journey … profitably!
Leave A Response