I just finished creating my next online course which is all about starting an online private practice. A virtual private practice is a clinical or non-clinical practice which you can operate from anywhere in the world.
As a digital nomad physician, I thought that this would be the exact kind of course to get your entrepreneurial juices flowing.
Whether you want to make this your eventual main income generator or you want to earn some income on the side, an online private practice should help you earn more money.
More importantly, your own online private practice, whether full-time or part-time, will help you do more of what you like. You will be able to choose your patients since you’re in charge of marketing. And you get to set your prices based on the kind of value you offer.
Online Private Practice
The course I have created is called Starting A Virtual Private Practice and it is hosted over at Teachable.
The course has the following 9 sections:
- the business model
- startup costs
- income potential
- software
- laws
- getting paid
- marketing
- customers
- growth
These are the various factors that I dug up when researching the topic. And it’s what I have had to wrangle in order to start my own Medical Health Coaching business.
Doctors like The Toe Bro and the Stye Guy are great examples of how an online private practice can work. Both of these guys still have brick and mortar practices but are earning a solid income from their brands.
Income or Freedom?
Starting my own online health coaching wasn’t about making money. I can do that just by doing more telemedicine or doing work for JustAnswer.
I wanted a place where I could have the freedom to see the kind of patients I liked. Sure, I get paid for what I do at $300 per consult, but the interaction I have with these clients is far more gratifying than the income it generates.
I want the freedom to choose which patient gets my undivided attention during a visit. And I want the freedom to charge them a fair price.
An online private practice gives me all of these freedoms. And it’s a more sustainable way for me to practice medicine. What’s the point of me seeing a lot of patients, make a lot of money, and then burn out prematurely?
Online Practice Models
In the course I discuss various virtual private practice models. From a traditional telemedicine practice to an asynchronous medication refilling model.
You can have a practice where you’re communicating with patients through video or telephone or where you’re having them fill out a questionnaire in order to come up with a diagnosis or treatment.
Your online practice could be broad, where you address all types of acute complaints. Or it could hyper-focused, similar to Curology or Roman.
Starting an Online Clinic
Who would have thought that we’d be shopping mostly online for various goods, from stores such as Amazon? And yet, here we are.
The internal business documents which large medical groups put out are riddled with talk of mhealth and virtual health and asynchronous medicine. It’s the future they are pushing for.
An online clinic is now the norm as of May 2020 when I am writing this post. Whether it’s because of CV19 or convenience … it really doesn’t matter. Virtual care is here to stay.
How many physicians missed the telemedicine wave the first time around and how many will miss the wave to start their online practices this second time around?
If nothing else, it’s worth considering this option and at least look into it to see if it merits and attention.
2 replies on “Starting an Online Private Practice”
Good Afternoon,
I have just begun researching working in a telehealth setting and discovered your website during my search-nice to find you!
I am a psychiatrist presently working at McLean Hospital, the flagship psychiatric hospital of Harvard Medical school, in a leadership position on one of the adult inpt units. I had been planning to make a move some time in 2021 and since forced to work remotely d/t COVID am now becoming potentially interested in establishing a virtual private practice – though perhaps working for a telehealth company would be prudent initially.
Would your course have benefit to a psychiatrist seeking to transition to a virtual practice?
Really appreciate your website and will be checking back frequently.
Thanks,
It’s great that you’re getting some experience in working remotely already. The course is geared towards all clinicians who are interested in earning money from their own Private Virtual Practice. That would include psychiatrists and it would include both clinical and non-clinical work. If you genuinely are interested in starting your own virtual private practice online, there is currently no other course like this, which sort of makes it the best course out there on the topic. I update my courses regularly so it should remain relevant with changing times.