Sports medicine practices seek to achieve success through excellent financial and clinical outcomes, which can give practices better reputations and a better competitive edge. Here are seven strategies for sports medicine practices to adopt in order to improve its position as an industry leader.
1. Elect a leader with a strong business background. Craig Levitz, MD, of Orlin & Cohen Orthopedic Group and director of sports medicine and chairman of the department of orthopedics and orthopedic surgery at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, N.Y., says sports medicine practices should avoid trying to run a practice without any business background. While building a medically sound sports medicine practice is essential, practices should also strive to hire CEOs, administrators and other leaders who have a strong understanding of how to run a sports medicine practice as a business.
"The biggest mistake I see people make is trying to run a business without any knowledge of how to run one, and so sometimes sports medicine practices have leaders who are not good at hiring, firing, setting goals, customer services, billings and collections and so on," Dr. Levitz says. "I would say the number one pitfall is not finding a CEO-type person to fill in and run the practice as a business. Too many physicians say they don't want to spend the money, so they try to take on an area of expertise that they just don't have."
2. Specialize in sports medicine. Dr. Levitz suggests bringing physicians on board that completed accredited fellowships in sports medicine. He says doing so will give your sports medicine practice with more credibility because there is a vast difference between physicians who call themselves sports medicine physicians and those who actually go through accredited fellowships.
"Accredited fellowships have core training that big associations have created that include use of cutting edge techniques," he says. "Starting in 2012, all sports medicine physicians have to have complete an accredited fellowship, and that will help the public determine whether they are truly seeing a sports medicine physician who is trained appropriately and doesn't just have the title of 'sports medicine physician' as a marketing tool."
3. Find a balance between clinical and academic expertise. Michael Ciccotti, MD, of Rothman Institute Orthopaedics, chief of sports medicine and professor of orthopedic surgery at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, says successful sports medicine practices should not only possess clinical expertise through appropriate medical school, residency and sports fellowship training but also academic expertise through ongoing medical research. This ensures it is able to treat all types of conditions across a broad spectrum of athletes, including collegiate, recreational and professional athletes.
"A practice should have the clinical expertise and wear-with-all to treat the full spectrum of sports medicine patients with all types of problems," he says. "Also, practices have to do sports medicine research where they look at a problem very closely, critically analyze factors that may determine the outcome of a treatment and come up with some type of treatment schedule or algorithm based on science."
4. Think of each patient as a global episode of care. Dr. Ciccotti says successful sports medicine practices will look beyond a patient's injury or condition and consider the patient's care on a global level. This means setting up episodes of care in such a way that helps patient stay on the road to recovery with the promise of returning to their sports, for example, by suggesting physical therapy programs for reconditioning or more closely examining the patient's nutrition, equipment selection and technique of playing their sport.
"It goes beyond the pure musculoskeletal problem. For example, let's say you have a collegiate baseball pitcher that comes to you with a shoulder injury. You need to realize that during the time they're injured, they aren't doing their normal conditioning, and their other muscles become deconditioned, so you need to help them find some facility where they can do specific strength and conditioning to help their whole body get back to sports training," he says.
Dr. Ciccotti adds sports practices should also talk to parents and coaches to see what other outside factors may be contributing to the athlete's condition. Doing so helps your practice approach the patient with a more holistic view of how to treat the patient. "You may need to look at the athlete's technique or equipment, or you may need to ask their parents about their nutrition."
5. Reach out to the community. Sports medicine practices should think beyond the four walls of their practice and reach out to members in the community with whom they can build and foster strong relationships. Dr. Ciccotti suggests practices reach out to community sports teams and organizations, whether the team or organization is recreational, collegiate, professional or Olympic.
"Sports medicine practices should reach out to those teams and let them know that the practice is one with deep expertise and interest in caring for athletes," he says. "Practices have to reach out in a sensitive way though, knowing that these organizations may have already existing relationships with other sports medicine physicians."
6. Market, not advertise, your practice. Dr. Levitz says sports medicine practices should work to market itself to the public in a way that builds trust with patients, as opposed to simply posting ads in the newspaper about its existence.
"I'm a big fan of marketing and adding substance to a practice's image," he says. "For example, we post educational material on our website for patients and try out best to introduce to the public our experience and high patient volume. We do that so they understand there's a certain pedigree that we uphold for our staff, and there's a certain level of care that differentiates us from the rest of the community."
7. Above all, patient satisfaction. Dr. Ciccotti says striving for excellent patient satisfaction should ultimately underlie everything a sports medicine practice does. "You have to treat these athletes with kindness and compassion and realize they're coming to you because they love to play a certain sport but can't do it anymore. Whether it's a recreational basketball player or Olympic athlete, they're coming to you for help, and approaching them with the kind of compassion you would approach your family with is what will lead your practice to success," Dr. Ciccotti says.
1. Elect a leader with a strong business background. Craig Levitz, MD, of Orlin & Cohen Orthopedic Group and director of sports medicine and chairman of the department of orthopedics and orthopedic surgery at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, N.Y., says sports medicine practices should avoid trying to run a practice without any business background. While building a medically sound sports medicine practice is essential, practices should also strive to hire CEOs, administrators and other leaders who have a strong understanding of how to run a sports medicine practice as a business.
"The biggest mistake I see people make is trying to run a business without any knowledge of how to run one, and so sometimes sports medicine practices have leaders who are not good at hiring, firing, setting goals, customer services, billings and collections and so on," Dr. Levitz says. "I would say the number one pitfall is not finding a CEO-type person to fill in and run the practice as a business. Too many physicians say they don't want to spend the money, so they try to take on an area of expertise that they just don't have."
2. Specialize in sports medicine. Dr. Levitz suggests bringing physicians on board that completed accredited fellowships in sports medicine. He says doing so will give your sports medicine practice with more credibility because there is a vast difference between physicians who call themselves sports medicine physicians and those who actually go through accredited fellowships.
"Accredited fellowships have core training that big associations have created that include use of cutting edge techniques," he says. "Starting in 2012, all sports medicine physicians have to have complete an accredited fellowship, and that will help the public determine whether they are truly seeing a sports medicine physician who is trained appropriately and doesn't just have the title of 'sports medicine physician' as a marketing tool."
3. Find a balance between clinical and academic expertise. Michael Ciccotti, MD, of Rothman Institute Orthopaedics, chief of sports medicine and professor of orthopedic surgery at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, says successful sports medicine practices should not only possess clinical expertise through appropriate medical school, residency and sports fellowship training but also academic expertise through ongoing medical research. This ensures it is able to treat all types of conditions across a broad spectrum of athletes, including collegiate, recreational and professional athletes.
"A practice should have the clinical expertise and wear-with-all to treat the full spectrum of sports medicine patients with all types of problems," he says. "Also, practices have to do sports medicine research where they look at a problem very closely, critically analyze factors that may determine the outcome of a treatment and come up with some type of treatment schedule or algorithm based on science."
4. Think of each patient as a global episode of care. Dr. Ciccotti says successful sports medicine practices will look beyond a patient's injury or condition and consider the patient's care on a global level. This means setting up episodes of care in such a way that helps patient stay on the road to recovery with the promise of returning to their sports, for example, by suggesting physical therapy programs for reconditioning or more closely examining the patient's nutrition, equipment selection and technique of playing their sport.
"It goes beyond the pure musculoskeletal problem. For example, let's say you have a collegiate baseball pitcher that comes to you with a shoulder injury. You need to realize that during the time they're injured, they aren't doing their normal conditioning, and their other muscles become deconditioned, so you need to help them find some facility where they can do specific strength and conditioning to help their whole body get back to sports training," he says.
Dr. Ciccotti adds sports practices should also talk to parents and coaches to see what other outside factors may be contributing to the athlete's condition. Doing so helps your practice approach the patient with a more holistic view of how to treat the patient. "You may need to look at the athlete's technique or equipment, or you may need to ask their parents about their nutrition."
5. Reach out to the community. Sports medicine practices should think beyond the four walls of their practice and reach out to members in the community with whom they can build and foster strong relationships. Dr. Ciccotti suggests practices reach out to community sports teams and organizations, whether the team or organization is recreational, collegiate, professional or Olympic.
"Sports medicine practices should reach out to those teams and let them know that the practice is one with deep expertise and interest in caring for athletes," he says. "Practices have to reach out in a sensitive way though, knowing that these organizations may have already existing relationships with other sports medicine physicians."
6. Market, not advertise, your practice. Dr. Levitz says sports medicine practices should work to market itself to the public in a way that builds trust with patients, as opposed to simply posting ads in the newspaper about its existence.
"I'm a big fan of marketing and adding substance to a practice's image," he says. "For example, we post educational material on our website for patients and try out best to introduce to the public our experience and high patient volume. We do that so they understand there's a certain pedigree that we uphold for our staff, and there's a certain level of care that differentiates us from the rest of the community."
7. Above all, patient satisfaction. Dr. Ciccotti says striving for excellent patient satisfaction should ultimately underlie everything a sports medicine practice does. "You have to treat these athletes with kindness and compassion and realize they're coming to you because they love to play a certain sport but can't do it anymore. Whether it's a recreational basketball player or Olympic athlete, they're coming to you for help, and approaching them with the kind of compassion you would approach your family with is what will lead your practice to success," Dr. Ciccotti says.