Physicians are the CEO of their Practice

You’ve completed years of training and have highly developed skills. Medical school, residency, fellowships, and years of practice have turned you into a highly qualified physician. You’re extremely busy seeing and caring for patients.

You’re also trying to oversee a successful medical practice; trying to do everything from marketing and finance to negotiations and purchases. You are acting as the practice CEO, overseeing managers and setting the strategy for practice growth.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have business training as well?

By Carolynn Grimes
The Plastic Surgery Channel

“They do not teach business in medical school and at the end of the day running a practice is a very important business”, states Mary Lupo, MD. Dr. Lupo is a board certified dermatologist with a very busy practice in New Orleans, Louisiana. “The better you structure your practice, the better you’ll be able to take care of your employees and you’ll stay in business longer.”

“One of the failings of medical school is they really don’t give you any kind of business knowledge,” says Shaun Parson, MD, a board certified plastic surgeon from Scottsdale, Arizona.

That’s a common sentiment among many physicians we talked to…

Few practicing physicians have the time to obtain an MBA. The Physician CEO™ is a new program that has been developed so busy physicians can learn key business skills in a format that works around their schedules.

“The business of medicine has to be done efficiently to give patients the best service at the best price,” says Kevin Smith, MD, a board certified plastic surgeon in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Business Program Developed Specifically for Physicians

The Physician CEO™ Program is a new business education program developed by SurgiVision® Consultants, Inc., in collaboration with the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Enrollment is limited exclusively to physicians.

The program is designed to transfer the skills and the knowledge of an executive MBA program to physicians working in the cash pay sector. Because the cash pay sector lends itself to a consumer focus when delivering healthcare, the Physician CEO™ program focuses on medical specialties that service this sector – such as ophthalmology, plastic surgery and dermatology.  Cash pay medicine require a professional and business skills set that differs significantly from that needed in the third party reimbursement environment.

MBA Training in an Accelerated Format

“The Physician CEO™ program spans nine months. It is divided into four modules. Each module runs from Saturday to Wednesday because we recognize that most physicians cannot be out of the office for a full week. The modules are held about ten weeks apart, starting in January,” says Guy M Kezirian, MD, MBA, FACS. Dr. Kezirian is a board-certified ophthalmic surgeon, the founder of SurgiVision® and the Chairman of the Physician CEO™ program.

“We’ve taken the highlights of a MBA program and concentrated it into a format that physicians access in a very compressed period of time. Highlights include leadership, strategy, negotiations, finance, and marketing.  Physicians leave each module with practical knowledge that they can immediately implement in their practice.” says Dr Kezirian.

Many physicians report they have been intimidated when confronted with business and financial issues by their CFO or their accountants, which they don’t fully understand. To have the ability to speak the language of finance and marketing with your business consultant will drive your practice vision and is invaluable.  You can better lead your practice and will allow you to grow your business. “If there’s one thing I think physicians will leave with, it’s a sense of empowerment.” He says the physician is the CEO of their practice – not a manager, but a leader.  “I would argue that every physician who has a practice is a CEO already, what we want to do is make them a more effective CEO.