Nurse Practitioners Beginning Work In Private Practice
Carolyn Zaumeyer, an NP and the author of How to Start an Independent Practice: The Nurse Practitioners Guide to Success, said NPs must identify their strengths and weaknesses before opening the doors to their independent practice. The best way to do so is to work under the supervision of a doctor or other FNPs initially.
Zaumeyer, in an interview on XM satellite radio station ReachMD, said FNPs should be comfortable and confident in their role before taking on the added responsibility of the private practice.
You want to practice safely and know that you are doing the right thing for your patient as well as yourself, Zaumeyer told show host Lisa DAndrea.
Filling the role as a private practice FNP requires a strong educational background that includes classroom and clinical expertise. Duquesne Universitys online MSN FNP program prepares APRNs to become primary care providers. Students engage in coursework that covers management, leadership, and business concepts, the transition to independent practice, and issues exclusive to the FNP role.
S To Starting Your Independent Nurse Practitioner Practice
On a weekly basis, I am finding email, phone calls and letters from Nurse Practitioners who are looking for information on starting their own business.
This article is a synopsis of an article I wrote that was orginally published in Advanced for Nurse Practitioners. It has since been updated and can be found at NPBO.
1. Develop a support system.
None of us operates in a vacuum. It is essential that you develop a team of professionals to assist you. That team may starting with an business attorney and CPA in order to start you out on the right foot both legally and financially.
You will also want to network and mastermind with other NP Business Owners who have already traveled this road. It will likely save you time, money and frustration.
2. File the necessary paperwork.
The paperwork alone will keep you busy! You will need to file for the necessary business licenses and permits. You need to get an NPI number, which should correlate with your new Tax ID number. As soon as humanly possible, if not before, begin the credentialing process with Medicare. That one will take the longests. File the others as soon as you can.
3. Find an affordable location.
4. Research budgetary projections.
As soon as possible, start gathering information about reimbursement rates from payers. With this information, youll be able to make some projections about your potential gross and net income. Dont forget to factor in the lower reimbursements that many still pay NPs.
10. Look Ahead.
Play A Vital Role In Shaping Health Cares Future
Opening and operating a private practice is a bold step for a nurse practitioner. However, it can also be a crucial step that can help bring about more options for high-quality patient care. As the concept of care delivery continues to evolve, nurse practitioners will increasingly find themselves at the forefront of this dynamic and essential field.
Ohio Universitys online Master of Science in Nursing program is designed for practicing RNs who want to advance their expertise in the nursing field. The curriculum is carefully designed to help students cultivate their knowledge and skills to a high level, allowing them to be confident health care leaders.
Learn how Ohio Universitys MSN program can help prepare you to excel in health care.
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Alumni Open Nurse Practitioner Led Clinic
UofSC Nursing alumni, Dr. Sheila Belton-Gaymon and Dr. Sandra Randolph, opened the doors to their women led, Primary Care Clinic, Ivy Health Solutions. The two nurse practitioners co-founded the clinic on North Main Street in Columbia, SC to help provide health care access to underserved surrounding communities.
We wish Ivy Health Solutions the best of luck and support our alumni as they provide access to healthcare in the local community!
Can you briefly share your career journey?
With 29 years of experience as an advanced practice nurse, Dr. Randolphs clinical background includes family, pediatric, mental health, urgent care/retail health, and substance addiction practice settings.
With 26 years of experience as an advanced practice nurse, Dr. Gaymons clinical background includes family, pediatric, mental health, urgent care/retail health, substance addiction, and occupational health practice settings.
Why did you decide to co-open Ivy Health Solutions?
Most of our career has involved caring for the medically underrepresented and/or underserved populations. Knowing that access to care is an important indicator of ensuring overall health, we decided to open a primary care practice to improve access to care in a medically underserved area.
What is the mission and goal of Ivy Health Solutions?
Why Are Nurse Practitioners So Important
Nurse practitioners can diagnose and treat patients as well as perform procedures. They differ from physicians in that their patient care approach is more holistic. Being nurses, they gather information about a patient not only to include physical symptoms but psychosocial and environmental information as well. They are skilled in education and therefore can spend time teaching patients and family about disease processes, treatments, and healthcare prevention as well as diagnosing acute health issues.
According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, nurse practitioners can also help lower the cost of healthcare, as patients who use NPs as their primary care provider have fewer emergency room visits and shorter hospital stays. Additionally, they help to fill the gap with the primary care physician shortage in the United States. They also tend to have high patient satisfaction.
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Providing Healthcare Services Without A Four
For students looking to start a career in nursing, working as a certified nursing assistant or licensed practical nurse can be a great entryway into the field.
Both CNAs and LPNs provide direct patient care in nursing homes, home healthcare settings, and assisted living facilities, for example.
CNAs assist the nursing team with a limited scope of basic care duties. They may help patients with bathing, eating, and walking. CNAs are typically supervised by LPNs or registered nurses , who may provide more extensive care, including administering medications.
CNA training programs are significantly shorter than LPN programs, enabling aspiring CNAs to begin their careers in a matter of months but often at a much lower wage than other care professionals.
Becoming an LPN requires completing an accredited practical nursing certificate program, which is usually offered at community colleges and takes about a year to complete. Students can expect to take courses in biology, pharmacology, and nursing while also participating in hands-on clinical experiences.
What To Do First
The first thing you need to do if you plan to open your own practice is to develop a business plan, says Balestra. If you are in a state that requires a supervising physician, make sure you have him/her on board. When this is done, hire an attorney who has experience with setting up NP businesses and understands the laws of your state. Hire an accountant to work with the lawyer on setting up the best entity for you legally and tax wise, she explains. Have several office spaces in mind and make sure they are zoned for medical practices. If you need a loan to start business, it may be a personal loan but a note can be written so that the business pays back the loan.
Do your research. Nobody should just open a practice for the sake of opening one without any research into their idea or doing market analysis, says Lawson. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
Bigford stresses that you also need to talk with your family. It takes a buy-in from everyone because of the significant work it takes from everyone involved and their loved ones to pick up their slack, he says.
As for how long it will takefor our sources, it took anywhere from four months to two years before they opened their practices.
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How To Open A Successful Private Clinic Of Your Own
The majority of trained doctors dream to have their own medical practice one day. Heres a guide on how to successfully open your own private clinic.
When you began medical school, you probably dreamed of starting a private practice someday.
Now youve graduated and have established yourself by working for a hospital or other medical facility. That dream may seem like its getting closer every day.
Opening a private clinic is hard work. However, its one of the most rewarding achievements in the medical industry.
If you feel its time to go off on your own, keep reading. Were going over some steps youll need to take to open your own private medical practice.
Obtain A License And Certification
To get a license, it’s vital that you hold a Master of Science in Nursing degree, complete a two-year post-registration clinical experience and pass a national certification exam. You may also have to get an International English certificate that shows you can speak in English to an appropriate standard.
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Obtaining National Board Certification
Nurse practitioners can work once they’ve obtained national board certification. You can apply for yours after graduating from an accredited nurse practitioner program.
Two boards offer nurse practitioner credentials in the U.S. the American Nurses Credentialing Center and American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Both will require you to submit an application and pass an exam. When you successfully fill all of the requirements, you’ll receive a nurse practitioner credential that’s valid for five years.
Becoming A Nurse Practitioner
Successful nurse practitioners are able to think critically and have the ability to manage time and stress effectively. Beginning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program immediately after high school is the recommended path for individuals interested in becoming a nurse practitioner. However, some people choose to gain experience in the field with an associates degree as a licensed practical nurse or a registered nurse prior to completing the BSN program.
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Choose A Legal Structure
Every business needs to be incorporated with the federal and state governments. Like the location of your nurse practitioner private practice, the legal structure you choose will affect your finances and operations.
There are several types of legal structures. Each comes with unique risks, liabilities, costs, administrative requirements, tax ramifications and benefits.
Depending on where your private practice is located, you can establish the following types of business:
A Day In The Life Of An Urgent Care Nurse Practitioner
Urgent care clinics love to hire NPs. The urgent care realm is perfect for new NP grads as well as NPs with years of experience. It provides a lot of routine along with a touch of unpredictable excitement. To get an idea of what life is like in urgent care, we have asked FNP Kala Sims to share her experiences.
One of the benefits of working as an urgent care NP is that I only work three days a week. Although my days are long, 7am to 7 or 8 pm, I enjoy the flexibility of the three day work week. Being that my clinic is open everyday except Christmas, I do however have to work every other weekend and some holidays. I work with two different doctors who rotate shifts. As an NP with only six months of experience, this has helped me learn because I am exposed to physicians with two very different methods of practice. On weekends I work alone in the clinic alongside two medical assistants but am able to contact a physician at another clinic by phone if I have any questions.
Next, I care for two children, three-year-old and five-year-old brothers who present with sore throats and fevers. On exam, their tonsils are enlarged and swollen with exudate. Their other sibling has just been diagnosed with strep so I decide to forgo the strep test and treat them both with amoxicillin.
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Where Can A Nurse Practitioner Have Their Own Practice
While you can open your own practice as an NP, the exact operating rules vary by the state in which youâll be operating. Some states still require you to open your practice with a collaborating physician, while other states allow NPs to open and practice independently without a physician. So, if you don’t know what your state’s requirements are, your first step in the process should be to figure this out.
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners lists the three practice authority designations for each state as full, reduced, and restricted. Hereâs how it breaks down:
Should You Open A Practice
As Lawson saysand as do our other sourcesfirst, you need to find your passion. You also need to decide if this is something you really can do. Opening your own practice takes guts, time, and dedication. If youre missing any of those, its not worth it, says Graig Straus, DNP, APRN, CEN, FF-NREMT, founder and owner of Rockland Urgent Care Family Health NP in New York. I always knew that I wanted to be my own boss, make my own rules, and care for my patients on my own terms. Having that desire really drove me to the point of wanting to open my own business.
While fulfilling, opening and running your own business isnt easy. Nurse practitioners should only open their own practices if they want all the things that go along with owning any business: bookkeeping, marketing, networking, hiring/firing, social media, etc., says Bradley A. Bigford, MSN, APRN, NP-C, CCHP, founder and owner of Table Rock Mobile Medicine, PLLC in Idaho. If they like working 9-5 jobs, owning their own businesses likely isnt for them. They have to put in long days and nights, weekends, and holidays.
Ask yourself tough, but important, questions. Melanie Balestra, JD, NP, MN, of the Law Offices of Melanie Balestra, is a lawyer and an NP and has been working with other NPs in a legal capacity to help them set up their own practices for more than 25 years. She says you should ask yourself some of the following questions:
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Why Does An Np Have An Ohip Billing Number
NPs are assigned an OHIP registration numbers for the purposes of referring a patient to a specialist, and ordering laboratory tests and certain diagnostic imaging tests . These tests can be claimed by the physician who interprets the test. However, NPs cannot bill OHIP for services such as assessment, diagnosis and treatment.
How To Become An Advanced Practice Registered Nurse
After gaining experience in the nursing field, a registered nurse may be ready to assume more responsibility. Becoming an APRN allows registered nurses to do just that.
Nurses who earn a Master of Science in Nursing or a Doctor of Nursing Practice often specialize. Some common specialties include:
- Nurse practitioner
How to Become a CNL
To become a clinical nurse leader, nurses can:
- Pass the CNL certification exam
- Apply for work as a CNL
The Clinical Nurse Leader Certification Program is managed by the Commission on Nurse Certification , an autonomous arm of AACN. More information on the CNL certification exam is available on the AACN website.
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Some More Resources For You
We have written lots of articles on this subject before, but there are too many to list here. However, you can start reading them all here on our blog.
The AANP also has many resources on getting started, and you can find information there that will help you develop your own practice. See their Practice Management website to learn more.
Build The Private Practice Infrastructure
Its important to turn a business plan into a physical presence by giving significant consideration to the expenses that come with this transformation. Leasing office space, buying furniture or equipment, and hiring staff are some of the upfront expenses to expect when starting a practice.
To get their practice up and running, FNPs should determine how much money they will need and where they may find it. Options may include withdrawing savings, cashing out or borrowing against investments, taking out a loan or second mortgage, using a credit card, or borrowing from family and friends.
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Here Is Whats Included With The Program
The NPBO Practice Startup System 2.0 is 100% digital, delivered over a total of eight modules.
Once you place your order and complete the checkout process, you’ll have immediate access to everything. You’ll get instant access to all the lessons, worksheets, mind-maps, PDFs, and more.
Heres a detailed breakdown of whats included with each module.
Nursing From Afar: Nurses In Telehealth
As telehealth becomes more accessible, especially to patients in rural areas, more nurses will be needed to interface with patients over online platforms.
Nurses working in telehealth will continue to provide patient education, especially on preventive health topics. Telehealth nurses may also be able to diagnose conditions from afar and recommend treatment plans. As this healthcare delivery method continues to become more common, opportunities abound for nurses working in telehealth.
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S To Opening A Private Practice As A Nurse Practitioner
Patel is in the midst of opening her own dermatology practice and, as a result of this experience, has become a resource and inspiration for other NPs looking to do the same. Through her website, Letâs Practice, she offers nurses and NPs a free toolkit that assists them in creating innovative business models.
The toolkit, which she estimates about 150 NPs have used, is useful for any NP looking to start their entrepreneurial journey, with sections on marketing, credentialing, handling finances, leasing vs. buying space, and even links to sample business plans. And while the specifics will depend largely on what type of practice youâre looking to open, Patel has provided a loose list of general steps that any NP can expect to take when establishing their own practice.