Can a Direct Primary Care Practice go from $1,000,000 in Annual Revenue to $10,000,000 in Annual Revenue?
Direct primary care is a growing business practice in primary care. Many doctors start successful practices by recruiting about 400 or 500 patients and having them pay $60 or $80 monthly. With these examples, it’s easy to see how a doctor could earn $288,000 in annual revenue up to $480,000 in annual revenue. Now, if there are two or three doctors in a practice, it’s easy to see how one office can generate $1,000,000 in annual revenue.
As a side note, annual revenue does not mean take home pay. Doctors have to account for overhead expenses like rent, paying employees like medical assistants, and paying for labs, medications, and other services vital to the clinic’s function.
All that being said, what would it look like to take a DPC practice from $1,000,000 in annual revenue (a big achievement) to $10,000,000 in annual revenue? That’s what I want to explore in this blog post:
How to grow from $1,000,000 in Annual Revenue to $10,000,000 in Annual Revenue?
Growing a business from $1 million to $10 million in annual revenue can be a significant challenge, but it can be done with the right strategy, hard work, and execution. Here are some steps that can help:
Define your target market: Identify the specific segment of customers that you want to target and tailor your products or services to meet their needs. This will help you to more effectively reach and retain customers, and drive revenue growth. In the case of DPC, you need to have a very strong customer avatar - what does your typical customer look like?
Increase sales and marketing efforts: To grow revenue, you'll need to increase your sales and marketing efforts. This could involve expanding your sales team, improving your marketing materials and campaigns, and leveraging technology to reach new customers. Beyond blogging and SEO, your DPC practice might need to hire someone to recruit new patients for you.
Offer new or complementary products or services: Consider offering new products or services that complement your existing offerings and appeal to your target market. This can help you to tap into new revenue streams and increase overall sales. It could be a line of supplements, or a weight loss program, or BOTOX or other programs to increase revenue.
Enhance your customer experience: Providing excellent customer service and a positive customer experience can help you to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Consider implementing customer feedback programs and investing in training and development for your customer service team. Even a 1 hour lunch and learn about improving the customer experience could go a long way in growing your practice.
Leverage technology: Technology can help you to streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. Consider investing in technology that can automate repetitive tasks, improve customer engagement, and drive growth. As doctors, this tends to be a blind spot for us.
Expand your geographic reach: Consider expanding your business into new geographic markets, either through physical expansion or through online channels. This can help you to tap into new revenue streams and increase overall sales. I think this is the easiest to understand for DPC doctors - you probably need to go to the other side of the city or to the next town over or even the next biggest metro area to grow your business.
Foster a culture of growth: Encourage your employees to take ownership of the growth of the business and to continuously look for new ways to improve processes, increase sales, and drive revenue growth. What if you incentivized your employees to bring on new patients?
These are some of the steps that can help you to grow your business from $1 million to $10 million in annual revenue. It's important to develop a comprehensive and well-executed plan and to stay focused on your goals.
Thanks for reading, and good luck starting and growing your direct primary care practice!
-Dr. Paul Thomas, MD with Startup DPC