Overview
Organizational ethics and company culture require planning, budgeting, and guidance by qualified industry and healthcare leaders. Building a model around standards and outcomes for quality and compliance, their costs, and changing market trends over time should not be an afterthought, and is imperative in building an ethical, sustainable, and scalable model.
Steps To Start and Scale Your Practice
Budgeting and Projections
Plan for ethical and quality operations that are viable & sustainable – expenses, revenue, and trends. Quality and compliance are not cheap, and should be built into your financial model from the outset. Planning for these as an afterthought can lead to big challenges. If you are not 100% sure whether you are ready to move forward, this can function as your feasibility analysis.
A few important considerations: Healthcare funder reimbursement rates generally do not increase commensurate with operating costs. Overhead does not change proportionally to case size. It is not reasonable to assume you will be able to easily renegotiate with commercial healthcare payers. Accepting rates that are manageable as an independent contractor without planning for these variables will impair your ability to operate a scalable practice that maintains the quality and compliance standards you’re looking to have.
This is one of the most important steps in building a sustainable and ethical ABA practice. Be sure to get started on the right foot.
Business Planning
Now that you have a better understanding of costs associated with your operation, build out your plan in more detail. This includes, but is not limited to, mission, vision, values, unique value proposition, market/competitor analysis, org/process infrastructure, marketing, KPIs. Not only is this is an important for those seeking funding, but important elements will be carried forward for future stages like building out your website and social media, among other things.
Setting Up an Entity
Incorporate and register or apply for your EIN, NPI, CAQH, business bank account, and insurance coverage. If you haven’t already finalized your fee schedule, now is a good time to do so. Be sure to set up your bookkeeping and accounting software properly, and prepare for internal financial reporting.
Creating Your Online Presence
Set up your website and social media accounts. A well thought out business plan will make this step easier.
Contracting/Credentialing
Identify funders to work with, complete and submit applications, pursue informed negotiations and accept reimbursement rates based on budgeting and projections completed in the earlier stage. Revise budget/projections as needed.
Prepare Documents and Forms
Prepare your policies, procedures, handbooks, clinical templates, employee and performance management as well as compliance and quality control documents and forms, and management spreadsheets.
Software Platforms
Select and set up software platforms including practice management and data collection, accounting, payroll, and learning management system(s).
Recruiting/Marketing
Finalize and implement inbound and outbound campaigns with prospective staff and clients. This will follow from your business planning (step 2) and online presence (step 4).
Hiring Staff/Client Interest
Finalize and implement your staffing and training from core team through service delivery team. Identify client interest. Order of operations is important at this step.
Service Initiation
Have appropriately qualified clinicians support intakes and assessments, and participate in the coordination of ongoing services and manageable caseloads.
Ongoing Management
Ensure ongoing management of all key departments and functions: clinical, business, financial, operational. Monitor efficiencies. Key functions include marketing, billing & collections, admin, scheduling & authorizations, hiring & training, contracting & credentialing, client intakes & orientation, ops manager & HR, bookkeeping, C-level meetings (overall status, financials, strategy, etc.), research management, partnerships & networking, CD support.
How We Can Help
Many people looking to build their own practice are doing so with the intent of doing better than those before them. A reality is that clinic owners and operators are faced with many of the same challenges. It’s in the best interest of owners and operators and their stakeholders to learn from those who’ve been through the learning curve.
Our services, which offer the expertise of industry leading professionals with demonstrated success in ABA and healthcare more broadly, help position you for success in building a better ABA practice and shaping the course of our industry’s reputation.Â
We provide your desired level of support within the budget you select at each step in the process. During set up and ongoing operations, we can help Strategize, Coordinate, Advise, Leverage resources, Execute.