4 Tips For Selling Your Medical Practice
In this day and age, more and more physicians are opting to sell their private practices for a number of reasons. If you're a physician who wants to sell your practice and move on to a different phase in your career, it is important to be informed. Use the following tips to help you successfully sell your medical practice to a medical group or another physician:
Review Your Bookkeeping
As soon as you decide to sell your practice, one of the most important things you need to do is review your books with your accountant. It is essential that you be able to show a buyer what your practice has billed and actually collected over the past year. Ideally, you want your books to show that your practice collected a high percentage of what patients were billed since this will make your practice more valuable. While reviewing your books with the accountant, you should also make sure that all managed care contracts are current and updated.
Highlight Strengths
An easy way to make your practice more attractive to buyers is by highlighting the strengths that set you apart from other practices. For example, if you already have physician extenders, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners, make sure that buyers know. If your practice has won any awards or received special recognition, that should also be made known.
Determine Compensation
Selling a medical practice, especially one that is successful and valuable can be complicated. As a physician, you will need to decide how you would like to be compensated. Some physicians prefer to collect a percentage of revenues earned by the practice for a set amount of years in lieu or a lump-sum cash payment. This is common when a physician is selling the practice to a junior partner that is already employed by the practice. You also have the option of receiving a large upfront payment followed by a percentage of revenue; in some cases, a doctor may be paid in full up front when selling a practice.
Offer to Help New Owner with Marketing
Even after the practice is sold, most physicians continue working there for several months. If you want to sell your medical practice, offering to do so can make your practice very attractive to buyers. During this transition time, you can help introduce your current patients to the new owners of the practice while also helping the new owner acclimate.