Doctors need to find ways to use their skills to expand the scope of their practice. The growing demand for personalized attention and service in medicine could provide an opportunity for physicians who see the benefits of meeting this need.
Don’t try and reinvent the wheel, learn from the experience of the Aesthetic training course, here are 6 tips that will help you successfully add medical aesthetics to your practice.
Do it because you want to
Adding medical aesthetic procedures will add another dimension to your practice. Adding a cash-based income center to your practice will yield huge profits. However, if you don’t do what you love, it will hurt you. You will likely spend more time and money than you originally planned.
Why are more and more doctors looking to add to this money-based aesthetic treatment procedure? One reason is that costs are much higher than costs for replaceable procedures.
Start with a Road Map
You must have a clear strategy for what services, procedures, and products you will offer. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Medical aesthetic additions usually combine medical and aesthetic procedures with complementary skincare products.
One thing I recommend is having a plan. You must have a business plan that outlines what you want to achieve (goals), and a road map of how you will achieve them. You need to have a marketing plan in place to clearly outline what you will do to get the best (time) return on investment.
A very important part of your business plan is clearly understanding what is a minimally invasive procedure, and who is doing it.
Products, Equipment, Services
Before you buy any equipment, you must know which procedure you will be performing in your practice. Hair removal, although popular, is highly commoditized. You may want to focus on vascular and pigment lesions, skin tightening, wrinkles, and acne scars, and skin rejuvenation. It is also important that your equipment can be easily upgraded as new technology becomes available, and does not need to be replaced.
Don’t forget to make sure each room has enough space to highlight the skincare range you will also bring with you. When choosing your skin care products, choose what you truly believe in. Otherwise, you are missing out on a huge profit opportunity.
Build Your Dream Team
Maybe you don’t want to deal with the day-to-day operations of the medical aesthetics department, you might consider hiring a medical aesthetics director. This person needs to have exceptional customer service value, and be talented enough to select and develop the right team to perform your aesthetic medical procedures.
The nice thing about offering medical aesthetic procedures is that in most states you don’t have to perform an actual procedure, you can hire an experienced beautician, RN, PA, or NP to do it. This allows part of your practice to generate income whether you are there or not.
Marketing and Promotion
First of all, you need to tell all your current patients about your new aesthetic treatment procedure, but you don’t think this is enough! You must have a comprehensive marketing plan in place before your grand opening. You may wish to offer free information sessions on popular topics (i.e. health) or special promotional treatment packages.
Don’t forget about regulatory and insurance issues
Since you will be incorporating medical procedures into your practice, you will need to ensure that you have proper responsibility for the procedures you are going to perform. While you may already have malpractice insurance, it may not shift to your medical aesthetic practice. Many insurance companies now require offices to add or extend cosmetic aesthetic procedures into their practice to document clinical and/or accredited training on all non-ablative modalities before the coverage policy will be extended. Please consult your insurance provider and legal advisor to ensure you are accurately protected.
The underlying theme here is – Get ready! The key to the success of any business, including expanding your practice, is to have clinical expertise and continue to market your available medical aesthetic treatments to your regular patient base.
As you develop and grow your aesthetic practice, you will experience the same growing pains that are common with any new business, the key is to identify and respond to them.
