The Executive Suite: 9 Challenges funding can help your medical practice overcome

Medical practice funding is often best used to support growth initiatives that will increase your practice’s revenue—thus increasing the chance that you’ll be able to pay off your loan on time.

However, sometimes medical practices face challenges or unexpected expenses and may need funding to help cover these costs without compromising cash flow. In this case, it may be even more difficult to get the funding you need from a traditional lender like a bank or the SBA. With a simpler online application and flexible approval requirements, alternative medical practice funding can help you meet these challenges and continue to grow your practice.

Here are 8 common challenges faced by medical practices that alternative funding can help you overcome:

1. High patient turnover

Patients come and go, which can lead to unpredictable cash flow. Funding can help you boost your marketing to pull in a steady stream of new patients, as well as take on more staff, offer more services, or renovate your space to retain your existing ones.

2. Burnout

In a volume-driven industry, seeing more patients per day can increase your revenue, but it can also increase your risk of burnout and erode the relationship between you and your patients. To prevent burnout, medical practice funding can be used to:

Take on more practitioners or administrative staff so you can reduce workloads
Invest in time-saving technologies to improve your workflow and simplify administration
Create wellness programs to encourage your staff to engage in self-care

3. Hiring qualified staff

Hiring qualified staff can be difficult for smaller practices that may not have the budget to compete with the pay and benefits offered by larger organizations. This can limit your practice growth and make it harder to implement team-based care strategies. Funding can help you make a competitive offer to a potential new hire so that you can take on staff, grow your practice, and increase your revenue.

4. Changing patient behavior

Patients in 2022 are demanding pricing transparency, remote appointments, online scheduling and test results, and shorter wait times. These features can be difficult and expensive to implement.

Alternative funding can be used to hire a professional who can help you securely implement these features. You can also use funding to set up services like free wifi, extended hours, or text alerts with wait times so you can better meet patients’ changing needs.

5. Size of practice

In private practice, operating costs are the responsibility of the sole owner. In a group practice, operating costs are shared between all owners. Funding can help you fill in cash flow gaps without straining your bottom line, regardless of how many owners you have, so you can stay focused on providing top quality care.

6. Maintaining inventory

Medical supplies are expensive but essential, and strict personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements for medical businesses after the COVID-19 pandemic can cause additional strain, especially cash flow is limited due to slow insurance payouts or difficulty collecting payment from patients. Funding can help you maintain a stock of the inventory and supplies you need without putting additional strain on your bottom line.

7. Purchasing and repairing equipment

Medical practices in all specialties require standard equipment like exam tables and computer software, along with x-ray machines, defibrillators, EKG machines, lab equipment, imaging equipment, and other specialized equipment. These items can be prohibitively expensive to purchase up front, and repairs can also be costly. Medical practice funding can help you make these purchases or complete repairs with less impact on your cash flow.

8. Improving technology

New technology can help keep your practice competitive and on the cutting edge, but it can be costly and difficult to implement while your staff adjusts to the new system. Funding can help you improve your practice’s tech so you can boost your efficiency and offer new services like remote appointments without compromising your security.

9. COVID-19

Health care businesses are among the most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 95% of businesses reporting a large or moderate negative impact between April 26 and June 27, 2020. Many practices are still struggling to operate under changing restrictions, with fewer patients allowed inside at one time, staffing shortages, service restrictions, and increased expenses for PPE and other preventive measures.

Alternative medical practice can help you meet the challenges of the post-COVID-19 era, including staff turnover or shortages due to illness, offering new services, and covering increased costs.

Find the medical practice funding you need

Multiple types of physician business loans are available from a variety of lenders, including the SBA, banks, and alternative online lenders like Greenbox Capital. With a streamlined online application and flexible approval requirements, alternative funding is often the most ideal for covering unexpected expenses and meeting the unique challenges of running a medical practice.