Resources for Medical Students

Where Do You Want to Practice?

Where you set up your medical practice can change everything about your day-to-day experience delivering healthcare to your patients, from patient volume to the services and specialties most in demand, to the auxiliary healthcare services available to support your practice.

Professional Considerations

• Is your preferred practice location a high-needs or underserviced area or is it a well-serviced urban area?
• What is the demand for your specialty in your preferred location?
• Where will you have hospital privileges?
• Are you associated with a physician group that is required to practice in a particular area?
• What are the demographics, economic conditions, and population trends in your preferred area of practice?
• Are there government incentives for establishing a medical practice in your preferred location?

Personal Considerations

• Do you have personal connections to a particular location based on where your family and friends live?
• What are your requirements with respect to cost of living, i.e., can you feasibly operate a profitable business in your preferred practice location?
• What is the availability and quality of local services such as childcare and schools, recreation facilities, and cultural institutions?
• Does the local market in your preferred location provide adequate job prospects for your partner or family?

How Do You Want to Practice?

Gone are the days when all physicians expected to practice medicine one way, following the traditional model of a solo practitioner managing a vast roster of patients. Today’s physicians have a plethora of options, empowering healthcare professionals to tailor their careers to best suit their individual preferences and needs. With the rise of telemedicine, services that connect locums with available work placements, and collaborative healthcare models, new physicians have the flexibility to choose a practice model that aligns with their individual interests, lifestyle preferences, and expectations around work-life balance. Whether it’s focusing on a highly specialized area of medicine, reducing administrative burdens or start-up costs, or creating a more patient-centered approach, diverse practice models enable physicians to prioritize what matters most to them, ultimately benefiting both the healthcare provider and the patients they serve.

Leasing Space as a Solo Practitioner

• Full control of start-up costs, practice set-up decisions, and ongoing overhead expenses
• Freedom to design the clinic space according to your preferred practice style
• Autonomy in day-to-day clinic operations and staffing
• Opportunity to develop referral relationships with specialists, ancillary healthcare providers who align with your healthcare delivery approach and standards of care
• Ability to customize your practice style based on your unique business philosophy and personal values
• Lower patient volume requires fewer staff, minimizing noise and distractions
• Ideal for practitioners who prefer to work more traditional hours

Joining an Existing Team – Partnership or Group Practice

• Shared control over staffing and management decisions
• Opportunity to partner with physicians who hold similar values and business philosophy
• Joint responsibility for ongoing overhead expenses, staffing, and practice management
• On-site colleagues to support comprehensive patient services offering, collaborate on complex patient cases, and share workload management
• Typically provides availability of more resources and tools on-site than a solo practice can sustain
• Busier work environment and higher demands on shared spaces and resources
• Multi-physician coverage provides more flexibility to set working hours based on preferred work-life balance without affecting clinic operating hours
• Practicing Medicine as an Employee – Joining a Managed Clinic
• Professional staffing, support resources, EMR, IT support, and practice management services provided by the clinic manager
• Typical model offers short-term contracts and flexible practice options
• Turn-key operation, medical supplies and equipment provided
• Collaborative practice and workspace, with ability to bring employ allied healthcare service providers on staff if desired
• Busy work environment, large waiting rooms, and potential for numerous physicians on staff with inconsistent schedules
• Limited involvement in day-to-day operations, limited input into staffing, limited control of costs

Your Practice, Your Space: Navigating Real Estate Options

In the realm of healthcare, the decision of where to establish a medical practice is pivotal, with implications not only for the physician but also for the patients they serve.

Regardless of the style of practice you pursue, selecting the ideal real estate for your business is a critical factor that demands careful planning and thorough research. Although physicians can and do move clinic locations, it’s never ideal to uproot your practice, disrupt your patients, or pause your business operations to undertake a complex relocation.

Consider this: many physicians retire in the same space they first established their medical practice. With the average physician in Canada practicing medicine for 35-40 years before retiring, the importance of selecting an ideal location cannot be overstated.

Practical Considerations to Choosing the Best Building for Your Practice

• Accessibility to and visibility of your location are paramount – patients need to be able to easily locate and access the clinic, ideally with options to conveniently arrive at the building via public transit, personal vehicle, or on foot.
• Proximity to hospitals, specialist physicians and clinics, and ancillary service providers (lab, pharmacy, diagnostic imaging, etc.) offers several significant advantages to physicians and patients, including convenient access to healthcare services required before or after appointments, seamless referrals process for coordinating specialized tests, procedures, or consultations, collaborative care opportunities among healthcare providers providing a comprehensive network of care, and quick access to emergency care in the event of a medical emergency.
• Distance between your residence and the building and distance between the building and the hospital where you have privileges, if applicable – consider how much time your daily commute will take, available transportation options (public transit, walkability, etc.), and the convenience of moving between locations if you practice in more than one clinic and/or work shifts at a hospital.
• Balance of competitive rent and operating costs with high-quality facilities and property management services that are suitable for medical users. It may be more cost-effective to establish your practice in a retail or commercial office setting, but there are compelling reasons why physicians often find greater success leasing space in dedicated healthcare settings like medical office buildings. From tailored infrastructure to enhanced cleaning and accessibility standards to collaborative healthcare ecosystems, medical office buildings offer a supportive environment where physicians can thrive professionally while delivering exceptional care to their patients.
• Space that meets your needs today, while providing the flexibility to accommodate your practice as it grows, changes, or adapts in response to the evolving healthcare industry. A thriving medical practice might demand a larger waiting room or additional exam rooms to accommodate a new physician partner. A change in a physician’s focus or specialty may require different equipment or an entirely new space configuration. And emerging technology and shifting trends in healthcare delivery could necessitate enhanced digital infrastructure, integration of new systems and equipment, or upgrades to address regulatory or compliance requirements. The flexibility and adaptability of the physical space where you practice directly correlates to your ability to build a practice that thrives in the ever-changing healthcare landscape.

Setting Your Practice Up for Success: Key Takeaways

1. Business Planning is Essential: Before diving into setting up your practice, develop a comprehensive business plan tailored to your individual needs and preferred practice style. Identify your target patient population, the services you’ll offer, strategies to market and grow your practice, and financial projections that take into account the start-up costs to get your clinic ready for patients. A well-thought-out business plan will serve as a roadmap for establishing your practice and help guide decision-making processes.
2. Location Matters: The location of your practice can significantly impact its success. Choose a location with high demand for your services, good visibility, and accessibility for patients. Consider factors such as neighbourhood demographics, the presence of competition or use-based exclusivity restrictions in your preferred building, proximity to hospitals and ancillary services, your own commute, and ease of access for both patients and staff.
3. You Have Options: Whether you plan to run a solo practice because you want total decision-making control over your business or you wish to join an established clinic where you can surround yourself with a complementary and supportive physician group, there are many paths to a thriving practice that runs smoothly and fulfills your personal and professional needs. Take the time to understand your options and if possible, consider taking a locum position to get a sense of the pace and atmosphere in different clinic environments. The time you invest time in exploring all the available options will help ensure you ultimately put your energy into building a practice that’s perfectly suited to you.
4. Prioritize Patient-Centred Care: Putting patient satisfaction and outcomes first by delivering high-quality medical care in a patient-centred environment will allow you to focus on what you spent years training to do: practicing medicine. Strong doctor-patient relationships can last decades, and a stable roster of satisfied patients can make for a long and fulfilling career. But building patient trust is about more than listening to your patients’ concerns and involving them in treatment decisions (although those are key priorities!), it’s also about delivering care in a supportive, accessible, and specialized environment. Co-locating your practice among specialists and allied healthcare services creates convenience for patients and fosters collaborative care. And a positive patient experience fosters patient loyalty, word-of-mouth referrals, and practice growth. Prioritizing patient-centred care is good for business and great for patient outcomes.
5. Embrace Technology: Emerging technology and cutting-edge equipment are changing the face of modern medicine. From interoperable EMR systems and remote patient monitoring to implantable medical devices and robot-assisted surgeries, integrating new technology into your practice can expand available services and access to care, reduce treatment and recovery times, enhance the quality of patient care, and improve outcomes. Staying updated on emerging technologies and industry trends to deliver the highest-quality care is essential. It’s also critical to ensure that the physical space where you practice medicine is designed to accommodate the technology and equipment you’ll use today and can adapt to integrate the technology and equipment of the future.

By considering these top-five key takeaways and approaching practice management with diligence, adaptability, and a commitment to delivering exceptional patient care, new physicians will be on the path to success as they embark on the journey of establishing their first medical practice.