Why do Some Private Practices Fail?
Let’s face it. A great therapist or clinician doesn’t always know how to run a successful business. After all, managing a practice requires different skills that not everyone has.
Many clinicians just starting out have grand dreams about how successful their new practice is going to be. Sadly, many struggle to keep going after the first year.
Success in private practice is every bit as dependent on your ability to put yourself firmly in the role of business owner as it is to provide good therapy.
If you fail in either regard ultimately you will in both, and the financial risks associated with such poor business practices are sobering to say the least.
Some of the more common reasons practices fail are quite obvious. These may include not paying taxes, poor documentation, insurance reclamation issues, payroll problems, or accounting irregularities. Some are not so obvious.
Why do Some Private Practices Fail?
Should you rely on your own Perception?
A successful clinician recognizes that they’re just as prone as any of their clients to being victims of cognitive biases when it comes to assessing their own therapeutic or business related skills.
They are simply blinded by their own perception. They either believe that they are experts in therapy and in running a business or they are crippled with self-doubt.
Regardless, they should be focusing and measuring the one thing, which will ensure they have a stable and productive private practice.
That is client retention.
Client retention data indicates practice success
The Importance of Client Retention Data
Without returning clients you are not going to have a successful practice. You should be able to monitor the data that reveals your client retention.
Focus on the average number of sessions your clients actually attend before you begin discontinuing services.
Using a software like Therasoft makes accumulating and then understanding this data much easier. In fact, you can draw the relevant data from a single report, and it can be calculated in other ways as well, depending on how you track your data.
