Whether you are an administrator, owner, or someone who is involved in some way with the running of a medical practice, you are likely going to already know about both asset-light and asset-heavy medical practice designs.

If you are, however, unfamiliar with these terms, then knowing the difference between them can be extremely helpful in weighing up how to design a medical practice and where capital should be allocated.

An asset-heavy medical practice is one with a large amount of capital invested in equipment, the property and building where the practice is located, employees (with a large number of full-time employees), and essentially owns a wide range of assets that allow it to perform as many functions as possible.

An asset-light medical practice on the other hand is one that owns fewer fixed assets, with a minimized quantity of full-time employees that focuses more on using outsourcing vendors to provide patients with a full range of medical and diagnostic treatments.

Urodynamics (UDS) is a relatively safe office procedure; however, as with any invasive procedure or test, there are risks associated with performing UDS. A few simple steps can help avoid complications in the majority of patients. Most of the complications associated with UDS are related to urinary tract infections (UTI) and the majority of this blog will focus on that. Additional complications include pain, patient anxiety and injury from catheter placement.

UTI is the most common serious complication of UDS testing, though the frequency of this is difficult to quantify.¹ There are excellent guidelines on this from the University of Michigan¹ and the American Urologic Association (AUA) also offers guidance for the prevention of UTI’s associated with UDS.²

Providing an effective field service is one of the key responsibilities of medical device companies.

Traditionally, field service agents have been technical support staff with little to no background in medical sciences. Today, however, there is an increasing trend toward incorporating nursing staff, particularly nurse educators, in medical device field service.

Any industry thrives on customer satisfaction, and this applies equally to medical device companies. For medical device companies, customers are typically healthcare professionals who are fully satisfied only when they are able to use a device correctly and to its maximum efficacy, and can summon support to troubleshoot problems as soon as they crop up. Hence, the need for a reliable and readily available field service that can handle problems related to medical devices quickly.

What is expected from a traditional field service?

Field service is required after the sale of medical devices and field staff from the medical device company visit customer premises—usually a hospital or clinic—for this purpose. The general expectations from a field service are:

There’s no real love for waiting rooms. Call it the perpetual suspense, the white-coat syndrome lingers behind all modern chic designs. It’s time for practices to generate a greater practicality and explore deeper into human psychology behind waiting room worry.

My company provides advanced diagnostic testing services (primarily urodynamics testing, anorectal manometry testing, and other incontinence related services) to practices all over the country.

Through our work, we are exposed to practices at all profit levels from those that are hugely profitable to those that can barely pay the bills.  Based on our work, we have compiled a few ideas below that should help any practice be more profitable.  We hope that one or two will hit the mark for you.

When it comes to medical practice, the cost of doing business can be vastly different than for other small businesses. While building revenue is important, so is effective customer service and high-quality patient care.

As the model for reimbursement changes, efficient cost management is becoming a key component of the survival and stability of the independent medical practice.

Here, the types of costs associated with medical practices will be discussed, as well as why the variable cost structure is important.

In today’s medical marketplace, physicians such as urologists and ObGyns are finding it more and more difficult to keep doors open in the face of deceased reimbursements and patients who lack medical insurance. Additionally, attracting new patients is harder than ever, thanks to the prevalence of websites which allow patients to rate their doctors, sometimes leaving bad reviews which do not adequately depict the situation from both sides.