Non-Care Extender Management

Reading Time - 4 min

 

Why you should spend 4 minutes reading this:

As your group grows, incorrectly deciding to insource or outsource a function will decrease your bottom line 

 

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This section of your clinic/practice can vary greatly.

 

You'll need to decide what to insource and outsource based on your size, specific challenges as a specialty, current systems / workflows and local labor market.

 

A simple decision framework for insourcing vs. outsourcing can be found below.

 

This is not a a perfect model as the example below will demonstrate. In the end, you'll need to make the decision about what is best for your organization but it will help focus your discussion.

 

1. Is this function aligned to your core service as a business? Yes/No

2. Are your core services operating at their optimal levels? Yes/No

3. Are you the only entity that can provide this function? Yes/No

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If you answered NO to the three questions above. Consider making a plan to outsource that function over the next couple of months or years. 

 

Here are other considerations: 

1. What is the premium associated with outsourcing the function? ($)

2. If the premium is significantly above the cost of building your own internal team to handle the function - without distracting your efforts to address core functions - you may decide not to outsource this. 

3. As you master the core functions of the business you could work to insource non-key functions, but you want to avoid over-extending yourself at the risk of not providing cost-effective care and increasing your revenue by patient. 

 

High-level actions you can take based on this article:

1. Develop a decision framework for your own group

2. Based on your long-term strategy, decide what to insource/outsource

3. With time, execute your plans and update them as market forces change