Medical Journal Houston Vol. 10, Issue 11, February 2014 | Page 3
Page
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medical Journal -.Houston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
. . . . . . . .
February 2014
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FINANCIAL
PERSPECTIVES
BY REED TINSLEY, CPA,
CVA, CFP, CHBC
The medical practice world is
full of uncertainties. We can’t
keep up with the regulations,
audits,
reimbursement
changes, meaningful use
stages, and so much more, so why would
we want to plan? While it is true that
there are uncertainties in our world, you
can only operate in a reactive mode if
you don’t take the time to plan. In this
environment, reaction equals crisis, which
means potentially wrong decisions would
be made affecting both the short- and longterm survival and success of your practice.
Strategic planning as a process implies
a look at the future and anticipation of
changes that may occur based on both past
and anticipated future performance. Your
practice mission statement, values, and past
performance will dictate to a degree how
you will respond to future events.
Planning techniques
Strategic planning – Where is your ship headed?
All physicians and key decision-makers of
the practice should meet with a planning
facilitator for the purposes of taking a serious
look at the practice’s future. One way to do
this is to set up a planning retreat. During
an annual planning retreat, decisionmakers typically conduct a SWOT analysis
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats). They can then expand on their
analysis to construct a bigger-picture look
at their practice’s projected future.
One approach is to use a significant
planning tool called “scenario planning.”
Key decision-makers ask themselves,
“What are the most likely scenarios that
could affect the practice in the future?”
Scenario planning posits that there could
be four different possibilities which should
be considered now, but not yet acted upon.
These types of scenarios when placed on
a matrix could be represented by a y-axis
of growth and an x-axis of stability. For
example: The four-part matrix could be )