View how to launch your clinic for $627 here
Doctors are notorious for procrastination by overthinking—otherwise known as “paralysis by perfectionism.” (Don’t worry, I’ve been guilty of this too).
Perfect example today:
I just got off the phone with a doc who’s SUPER nervous about going out on his own. I asked about his timeline. He reluctantly said he’d start this week BUT . . .
he doesn’t have a logo . . . or a website . . . or office space . . .
and he’s waiting for a startup loan . . .
Yet he has a waiting list of patients.
People are literally begging to see him NOW.
Thankfully he’s moving forward even though he’s panicked about the details.
Waiting for the startup loan always confuses me the most.
To prove he really doesn’t need a loan, I crunched my numbers & told him I actually launched my current clinic for $627.
(Even I was shocked at how little I’d spent)
Docs have been duped into thinking we need all this crazy stuff. A brand? A logo? I still don’t have any of that and I’ve been open for 13 years!
When I was little, I went to work with my parents and watched them heal patients the old-fashioned way. By listening and taking notes with a pen and paper. Sitting in a room with a patient and solving medical problems—using their brains. How cool is that? I think we were all sitting on rusty old folding chairs at some clinics. I was super captivated by the entire experience.
So what do you really need to be a doctor? Besides a medical license and (if you’re not a psychiatrist) a stethoscope . . .
Not much.
Maybe malpractice insurance? Two chairs?
I’m all about taking action and not holding back. I believe in living our dreams and making every breath count. Seizing the day and not wasting one more minute of your precious life.
Think about it.
If you HAD to launch a clinic tomorrow—like if your life depended on it—what would you really need to see your first patient? For hypertension or depression or bronchitis or whatever. . . (I’m not talking about doing a lung transplant here)
You’re smart enough already. You don’t need a 5-story hospital. You don’t need a helipad or a parking garage or a phone tree or receptionists behind bullet proof glass (that’s not the kind of reception I’m ever looking for when I’m sick anyway).
You don’t have an office. Who cares? You could probably meet your first patient at Starbucks, ya know. If you had to. I’ve done that. I even treated a patient at the DMV and another at a city park on a bench (great for abdominal exams FYI).
I’m into back-to-the-basics medicine. I think we all need to loosen up. Have more fun. Stop taking life so seriously.
Sometimes I’m convinced higher education lowers common sense.
Keep it simple.
All I had on day one before I saw my first patient was:
* 2 Goodwill chairs ($40)
* a tiny little office ($280)
* plus I paid my quarterly malpractice premium ($307.50)
That’s it. Grand total: $627.50
Since learning doctors have the highest suicide rates of any profession and knowing how my colleagues feel so depressed, overworked, and unappreciated, I’ve made it my life’s mission to teach physicians that there’s a simpler way to practice medicine on their OWN terms.
It’s so simple really.
Here’s the crazy thing: I know docs who launched for way LESS than me!
Isn’t that awesome?
Love,
Pamela
P.S. I’ve been offering telemedicine since launching in 2005. With a telemedicine only practice I could have launched for $307! (Since I wouldn’t need to buy chairs or pay for a lease).
Still nervous? I’ll walk you through all the steps one-on-one . . .
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Where & what was your “office rent?”
I suppose you could have it in your own home or, pay for use after hours in a suitable office in your home area? Sort of a sub let spot?
BP cuff, scope, what about sick visits? You send them to a lab with orders, correct?
Am I on track so far? lol
“Where & what was your ‘office rent?'” Inside a wellness center near my house. $280/month when I started 13 years ago. Now I pay $425/mo.
“I suppose you could have it in your own home” –> I did that once. See 1998 news clip here: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/bicycling-doctor-makes-house-calls-for-uninsured/
“or pay for use after hours in a suitable office in your home area? Sort of a sub let spot?” Yep you could do that too.
“BP cuff” Yep.
“scope” yep bought that in med school.
“what about sick visits?” See them same day.
“You send them to a lab with orders, correct?” Yep
“Am I on track so far? lol” YES YOU ARE!!
🙂 Pamela
That is so funny that I’m seeing this now. I started my firm on $598. You can really do more with less. 🙂
I guess this works in many professions that are based on your intellectual property which lives in your brain and can be placed in a very small square footage office. Like my physician friend Leah just shared: “I love this, you are a true inspiration. I am leaving emergency medicine, and I’ve started my own practice as well. I keep hearing doctors ask me why don’t you join a group? Do you need money? How are you going to do it by yourself? My brain is my intellectual property the product is me, I don’t need anyone else. Thank you for being a champion of this mindset, you’re absolutely right!”
what do you really need? your senses, clinical focus, education, intelligence, a rational logical thought process.
and a stethoscope. for me my Harriet Lane Handbook. not an ‘app’ on a fucking computer in the pocket.
YES!!! Plus we have higher IQ than our oppressors!!!!
As a midwife I am having trouble locating a collaborating physician that will give me a chance. I am trying to be patient and watch how people care for their patients before approaching them about it (I haven’t officially asked anyone yet), but after quietly watching for a bit I find reasons to move on. Do you have any suggestions for the nurse practitioner bunch on the verbiage we should use to acquire collaborating physicians? Thank you! Also what time is the webinar on Saturday?
Happy to help. Contact me here: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/contact/
The webinar is invitation-only on Sunday at 6 pm PST (9pm EST) so do request to be added when you contact me via webform above.
Will you go into detail about how certain specialities during your seminar? Recently completed Obstetrics and Gynecology residency and the trend is to leave private practice. Seems like a specialty like OBGyn would be resource intensive (purchasing equipment and malpractice insurance).
There will be time for Q&A and I’ll lad your question into the webinar. I’ve helped gyns without OB launch as well as FP+OB ideal clinic so it certainly is possible. Break free of the failing health care delivery model and beware of inadvertently creating a big-box clinic in a smaller box that then feels like a prison.
Is there any way I can contact Dr. Wible directly. I have a short question to ask her. Specifically, I am interested in her methods used to populate her registry.
Contact me here: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/contact/
Hi!
I’ve been intrigued by your ideal clinic model for some time, and recently heard you speak about physician suicide at Providence Grand Rounds. Then, last week, I had the good fortune to meet Kat Lopez, who inspired me to think that perhaps I actually can apply the ideal clinic model. Are you still doing the Sunday webinars, and, if so, may I be added?
Thank you!
Margaret
Webinars are not ongoing at the moment though I may start back up in 2019. Please see archived business strategy here: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/category/business-strategy/
You’re awesome. I’m a DNP awaiting credentialing to start my practice, do I have to wait that long, I feel like I’m loosing money here ? Hm! I could be seeing cash paying patients…..
Contact me. Happy to help. DON’T hire an outside credentialer.
Can I ask why not hire an outside credentialer? I’m a Physician Assistant looking to start up my own practice as well, but having trouble finding supervising/collaborating physician as similarly stated in previous post by a NP.
I’m a High school student. I don’t have a lot of experience in medicine but I really want to be able to start my own practice. Do I need to be a licensed doctor?
Yes.
I am opening a solo practice (no additional staff) and I really don’t know which EMR to use. I start with no patients and I would like to become paperless. I’ll be out of network as of now with most of the insurances.
Happy to help. I have two recordings on my website about how to love your EMR. Listen in. Happy to have a strategy session if you need one-on-one help. https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/why-i-love-my-homemade-emr/
Hi Dr. Wibble,
Thank you so much for your information. I read this 2 years ago and it changed my life. So happy that I started my own practice.
Sincerely,
Dr. Z
AWESOME to hear!! Congratulations. Tell us more about your practice. Where is it?
I agree with you that you can work without all the expensive stuff I started by renting a room from a chiropractor and a couple of chairs too but I grew patients expect more finally got to 3000 patients and I was working myself crazy I own my own building but it was too much at 67 I retired and sold my business but now I’m ready to start back again at 71 I met you in Long Beach when you were doing those clips about medicine and holistic medicine I’m glad to see your journey