Diversifying in a Time of Clinician Shortage

As a health clinic owner, it can sometimes feel like forums and conferences are full of tales of woe. We have clinician shortages across disciplines, concerns about the quality of graduates, clinicians wanting more and more money, rising cost of living- the list goes on! It can seem like we’re bending over backwards as owners to keep everyone happy, while running on low profit margins ourselves with high levels of risk. Many clinic owners are diversifying away from their core areas of business- hiring other disciplines, setting up online programs & diversifying products & services. With 4 clinics across Far North Queensland and a multi-disciplinary team that includes Physiotherapy, Exercise Physiology, Occupational Therapy, Psychology, Naturopathy, Remedial Massage & more, we are certainly no exception to that- but it’s not as easy as it seems! If you’re a clinic owner who would like to diversify, here’s my top 5 tips.

Know your why

I always wanted a multi-disciplinary clinic- a centre of excellence for healthcare. My why is simple and personal. In 2013, while cycling home from work, I was hit by a car, leaving me with multiple facial fractures and a post concussion syndrome with symptoms lasting for close to two years (spoiler alert- this was a huge driver for us becoming an accredited Complete Concussions clinic). Struggling with constant pain, anxiety and lethargy, I needed to manage most of my own recovery journey- finding the right clinicians, relaying messages between them- it was exhausting (and, given that I had chronic fatigue, I was already pretty exhausted)! I strongly believe that our clients shouldn’t have to case manage their own health journeys and that they benefit strongly from a range of passionate professionals who communicate with each other, all within one space. Having a clear ‘why’ and a story behind this makes it easier to market your clinic- to future team members, clients and referrers. It also gives you something positive to reflect on when things get tough and you want to quit- which happens, often! I’ve built the clinic which I envisioned- make sure you take the time to work out your Why and your vision to make sure you stay on track!

Know your team

I may be enthused by ‘whole person health’ – nutrition, exercise, goal setting, trends and more- however, not every health practitioner is! Early in my leadership journey I began to look at personality tests and tools such as DISC, Demartini values assessments and more. I realised that my large amount of ‘I’ ( influential, in a DISC profile) makes me more prone to chasing new ideas and bright shiny objects, whereas the ‘D’ ( direct, or dominant) makes me a quick decision maker. So, while I would excitedly talk about this new service/ product, my team of predominantly ‘S’ personality types ( S for stable- ie enjoying routine and things staying the same) were internally eye rolling or struggling to keep up. Using a whole range of psychometric tests with the team as well as myself enabled us to better know each other and match roles to the individual. A Physio who likes structure, routine and evidence? Why not see if they’d like to train in GLA:d? An outgoing, high ‘I’ osteopath? Why not send them to do some more networking, or suggest new services to trial?

When setting up a multi-disciplinary team, it’s important to recruit others with a growth mindset who thrive on working with others, learning about their work and referring patients for that optimised health journey. There’s lots of clinicians out there who prefer to work on their own, or in a single discipline, smaller clinic. Also, without your team enthusiastically getting to know your new team members and discovering how they can help their clients, the bulk of the work to drive enthusiasm (and bookings!) can fall back onto the owner- which is not fun.

Know your niche

We run a half neuro, half MSK practice, catering to almost all age groups- so I haven’t nailed this one! However, we do have a few core services – such as being Far North Queensland’s only accredited Complete Concussions clinic, as well as running Cairns Dizziness clinic for excellence in management of vertigo and other vestibular conditions. Marketing these specialised core services makes it far easier to be memorable than to say ‘we treat everyone and everything’. Even for clinicians who treat a bit of everything, taking the time to nail down their ideal client helps with all aspects of marketing- your clients can read social media posts, newsletters or blogs and really feel as if their unique concerns are being spoken to.

Set specific KPIs and know your numbers

One of the biggest learnings I have experienced is the difference in work structures between Physiotherapy and disciplines such as Occupational Therapy, for example. While a salary + commission model is quite common in Physiotherapy, I haven’t found it to be so in the OT world. When setting KPIs for our Occupational Therapists I spoke to an experienced Senior Occupational therapist who advised 4-6 hours per day of billable time is the norm- dependent on experience. I gave our OTs the option of a salary versus a salary plus commission model- all chose the salary option. When taking on any new clinician, do your research and be clear on your numbers. Disciplines such as psychology and occupational therapy, particularly those working in the NDIS, spend a large amount of time on non clinical work, planning and report writing- but much of this is billable. Calculate your break even points, pricing structures needed, how much you need in reserve for wages, the average time taken for your clinicians to be profitable and more.

Don’t be afraid to innovate.

We were lucky enough to have several unusual spaces in our new clinic to be able to house ice baths, an infrared sauna and compression boots- so why not?! We love creating community and giving people other reasons to visit us! Slightly more innovative is the addition of mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy to our clinics ( mHBOT). This was first suggested by a colleague of mine for its uses in the traumatic brain injury population- making it perfect with our concussion clinic! The more I read about it, the more exciting it sounded, having been used overseas in a huge range of conditions- from cerebral palsy to wound healing. I was able to find a state government grant to partially fund the purchase of 2 chambers and engage many of our team in training. And so, our in clinic recovery space and Cairns Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy was born this year! Whether it’s selling products, nutritional supplements, online classes or more- think about how you can better contribute to your ideal clients’ healing journeys and how you can optimally use your clinic spaces- there’s lots of out of the box ideas out there.