Learn the New “business” of Medicine - Start a Niche Medical Practice

Niche markets in both the medical house call and cash only are increasingly moving forward to the large, untapped population of patients who are more than willing to pay out of pocket for these services. In addition to the benefit of having a physician travel to the patients’ homes with medical house call practices, the patients are also enjoying paying significantly less for routine visits to the doctor and basic tests by visiting cash only medical practices.

Although physicians who contract with managed care and HMO health plans can generate a high number of patients for his or her medical practice, high overhead and low reimbursement rates often negate the increased number of patients. Because of this, several family and other type physicians have had to increase their number of hours worked in order see more patients in a day, just to maintain their income. Other physicians have taken a smarter route – by opting to reinvent an old practice model – the cash only medical practice.

More and more, cash is becoming the secret to the formula for driving down healthcare costs and improving access to physicians for a growing segment of the population. Eighty to ninety percent of those who make visits to a cash only medical practice will not be covered by health insurance. Those who do have health insurance will likely just have catastrophic coverage with a high deductible, and opt to pay cash for regular physician office visits.

Within a cash only medical practice setting there are several “niche markets” that are targeting patients willing to pay of pocket. These niche markets include general medical practice (and all other non-invasive surgical specialties); medical house calls, pain management; opiate detoxification; plastic and cosmetic surgery (including Botox®, breast augmentation, liposuction, face lifts, Restylane therapy); hair transplants, erectile dysfunction; laser eye surgery and more.

While most (up to 95%) cash only medical services are either elective services or acute simple to low complexity, and even sometimes medium complexity medical conditions that are being treated, there is a new trend of cash only or uninsured surgical clinics that are cropping up across the nation. Some of these centers have names such as Low Cost or Discount Surgery, Affordable Surgeries, and Medical Discounts.

The medical house call or cash only medical practice will only continue to grow into one of the most profitable, pleasing ways to do business for a physician. This model not only benefits the physician, but the growing number of patients who are lacking health insurance and/or proper medical care.