Advancement
up-front cash not only to acquire the
new physician, but also to finance his
start-up practice and absorb all of the
resulting early losses. Then there’s
the psychological damage endured
by you, the new physician, when you
leave, and to the staff and your peers
you leave behind.
And let’s not forget the biggest
blow—to your patients, and the
relationship you’ve built with them.
This applies to mid-level providers
as well as dentists, physical therapists,
and other providers.
On boarding is so important, for
both sides. Don’t be the deer in the
headlights. Your first job out of your
residency or fellowship can set the stage
for your entire career, and that’s worth
having all the information you can at
hand to make the right decision. DMJ
June 2019 Dallas Medical Journal 19
experience that rarely does this issue
create a problem. You guys know how
to speak physician with each other and
elaborate on your clinical experiences.
It’s the business items that go
undiscussed that ultimately can cause
the biggest problems.
There are going to be lots of offers.
My suggestion is that you get ready
and prepare a spread sheet that will
allow you to track the following stages
of job analysis:
In the lefthand column of the spread
sheet, from top to bottom, list things
like:
● Location
● Employer
● Salary
● Vacation
● Benefits
● Signing Bonus
● Travel Expense Allocation
Across the top, list the offering entity—
Hospital system, group, physician, etc.
This will get you organized. It will
make it easier to delete those offers
that are deficient in any of these
categories.
So you’ve started whittling down.
Now expand the spread sheet into
critical non-clinical areas of information
I believe must be examined and
evaluated. These include categories
that also can be broken down in detail.
Depending on the type of practice,
these might include, among other
things:
● The business of your individual
practice—budgeting, overhead, etc.
● How your new office works—
clinical back office staff
● Practice HR
● Compliance—on all fronts
● Governance
I advise my clients on eleven different
areas of analysis. What you want to do
is take a deep dive into the majority of
“non-clinical” business aspects of a
potential employment opportunity. It’s
avoidance of this kind of “entrance”
strategy that tends to unravel
relationships or turn things sour.
The risks of not knowing these
things is costly to everyone. You
may have signed an employment
agreement with a tough non-compete,
or you may have moved your family
across the country for a position
where both job satisfaction and job
longevity are now in question. If you’re
an employer, the financial loss can
be significant since you’ve invested
Tom Ellis III has
been a healthcare
consultant for
more than 20
years in the North
Texas area. www.
ellisandassoc.com