| View this email online if it doesn't display correctly |
| |
|
|
| |
| Dear Friend,
Are you setting the right stage for your upcoming or even current, negotiation?
Follow that link to the blog, or keep reading for the entire post.
Let’s talk about a key element in getting what you want out of a deal: Controlling the contract.
When you control the contract, you are controlling the discussion and you are framing
the issues.
In order to gain that control in any deal, you must be the party that presents the first draft of the document.
Oh, I hear someone out there moaning that it’s expensive. Yes, it is expensive. But the point is that it’s going to be a lot more expensive for you in the long run when the other side take control over the deal by paying their lawyer the $5,000, $10,000 or even $25,000 that it takes to document the deal.
There’s something psychological that comes into play when someone presents a proposed agreement. The other side almost always believes that they must negotiate against it, that
is, against the terms within that document, the document that you, if you were smart,
had prepared.
You want the other side to be negotiating against what you want. You want to be the one who frames it. So, frame the issues, control the discussion, control the documents, control the deal that you’re trying to get.
Don’t be penny-wise and freaking ton stupid.
|
| | | Business Life in the Time of Coronavirus Mini-Series
The coronavirus crisis caused a short term economic crisis for many medical groups. Our mini-series shows you the way out. Plus, many of the concepts discussed are applicable during both good times and bad.
[If you haven't already seen them, follow this link to watch our entire series.] |
| | Watch Tuesday's video here, or just keep reading below for a revised, more polished transcript:
I read in the paper that Bob Dylan sold his song catalog, his publishing rights, for what they assume are hundreds of millions of dollars. Many hundreds of millions of dollars.
There's a strategy here that any doctor, you, for example, can steal from Mr. Bob Dylan. Sure, he performed songs just like you perform cases. But, he also wrote those songs.
By doing so, he created tremendous value separate and apart from his personal performance, whether live or recorded.
These days, recorded music sales don't generate much income for performers. And, because of Covid-19, concert touring is (at least for now) a thing of the past. Who knows for how much longer it will be a thing of the past. Or, on the other hand, who knows if it will ever return.
So, by selling his publishing rights, Dylan has reaped a large payday, a very large payday.
Are there equivalents in your professional life to creating a deferred sort of payment, a residual, if you will, along the lines of either the royalties that Dylan was collecting, and that his family would continue to collect, and which now Dylan has monetized, immediately?
There's a present value to that future stream of income. Which is what he has now sold for
a gazillion dollars.
Things that pop immediately into mind are, for example, orthopedic surgeon clients who invent implantable devices and related tools.
Even though they’ve stopped practicing, they continue to collect royalties in connection with the inventions that they've patented and licensed.
There are other ways to create value separate and apart from hands-on practice. For example, value can sometimes be found in unbundling the structure of a medical group, taking an internal billing and collection operation and rolling it out into a separate
billing and collection business with the ability to generate income long past your
practice years.
Other physicians have established separate entities through which to provide consulting services that grow outside of their practice. And, not all of the consulting services necessarily have to be provided by you, personally.
Think of ways that you can unbundle what you have in ways that return income, either outside of your personal performance now, or way past your chosen active life, or even your active life as life deals it out.
|
| | How to Deploy the Secret Sauce of Opportunistic Strategy
Webinar On Demand
They say that COVID-19 has changed the world, creating the "new normal." Many of your colleagues and many hospital administrators are running scared.
Others, leaders like you, know that crisis means opportunity.
Let me provide you with the strategic tools and insights that you need in order to seize opportunities, whether they’re in the context of your current business relationships, the expansion of your business activities, or the creation of new ventures.
You will learn:
•Defense as a defective default: It’s necessary, but not sufficient.
•Exploiting weakness: Drop the guilt and identify opportunity.
•Flat line negotiation is fatal: Understand its myths and limitations.
•Negotiation reality: Learn to identify and deploy on multiple planes to affect the outcome.
•Maneuver: Harness the power of maneuver, both in overall strategy and in specific negotiation strategy.
Others see a crisis and freeze in fear. Learn how to see the opportunities and obtain the tools to increase your odds of obtaining them.
The price to attend is $479. The cost of not attending is astronomical. |
| | | Wednesday - How to Have a Flexible Future: Paging Dr. Gumby - Medical Group MinuteWatch the video here, or just keep reading below for a slightly polished transcript:
When I was a kid, I had a Gumby. (Did you have one, too?)
In common with other businesses, medical groups often assume that deals and decisions are like on–off switches, yea or nay, thumbs up or thumbs down.
The truth is that although many view the world that way, decisions and paths are far more flexible, more fluid, more customizable. They are infinitely adjustable, like Gumby.
That’s where the value is: in the nuances within the design of a deal or of a decision.
That’s how you must think. Not black or white, not yes or no, not right or left, but green, rubbery and bendable — like Gumby.
For example, many physician groups believe that they are faced with the decision to remain independent or to sell. Yet that’s a binary question: “on” or “off.”
The reality is that there’s a plethora of other choices. For example, to name but a very few: merge with another practice, hire to expand, acquire another practice outright, capture the referral sources or contracts that presently benefit another group, and so on.
And then, within each one of those routes there are multiple alternatives and multiple ways to structure the deal or effort.
Need a reminder? Go buy a Gumby and put it on your desk at work or at home. Every once in a while, pick it up and play with it. (You still remember how, right?) |
| | | Listen to the podcast here, or just keep reading for the transcript.
Walmart is famous for its slogan "Save Money. Live Better.”
It's no surprise that the slogan is aimed at the customer.
But what about the supplier?
There is a tremendous analogy here for medical groups, especially for hospital-based medical groups.
From the start, Walmart employed a low-price strategy. The way they sell at low prices is to buy at lower prices.
Many manufacturers, as they began selling to Walmart, craved the large distribution the stores offered. They'd assess how much Walmart would buy, and look at how many stores Walmart would put their product in. And, then, in order to get the Walmart business and that tremendous distribution, they'd sell to Walmart at very reduced prices.
But as Walmart became a bigger and bigger part of a manufacturer's business, Walmart began putting the pressure on. They knew that the manufacturer was so dependent upon Walmart for their huge volume and reach, that they could push even harder for really low prices, for low, lower, and lowest prices.
So, what does that have to do with you?
If you're the leader of a hospital-based medical group, an anesthesiology, radiology, emergency medicine, pathology, or hospitalist group, it's the same story. And, for those office-based physicians working for a hospital, it's definitely the same story.
If the huge bulk of your business is dependent upon a single hospital or a system of hospitals, say, six hospitals in XYZ, Kentucky, then who really owns your group? Do you own your group? Or, in essence, does the system, or the hospital, own your group?
After all, if they make a demand on you ("we’re cutting your stipend," or "we're reducing salaries," or "we want you to expand coverage") then what choice do you have other than to say “yes”? The alternative, of course, whether spoken or understood, is that you'll soon be an "ex-vendor" or "ex- employee." [I didn't say "ex-partner" because you never were treated as
a "partner."]
The real question is, have you, in essence, given away the ownership of your practice entity?
And, should you go to sell your group, if you’ve become that dependent on one large
source of business, what sort of a discount will the buyer demand due to your huge,
"baked in" fragility?
Think about it: Do you and your fellow physician "owners" really own what you think you own?
|
| | | Calibrate Your Compass
Read our exclusive RedPaper to guide you through this evolving situation.
The coronavirus crisis caused a short-term economic crisis for many medical groups. Our RedPaper shows you the way out. Plus, many of the concepts discussed are applicable during both good times and bad.
|
| | Help Us Help You With Helpful Content
What tailored content would you most like to see during this
time? How can we focus on solutions to your most pressing strategic concerns?
|
| | | | We all hear, and most of us say, that the pace of change in healthcare is quickening. That means that the pace of required decision-making is increasing, too. Unless, that is, you want to take the “default” route. That’s the one is which you let someone else make the decisions that impact you; you’re just along for the ride. Of course, playing a bit part in scripting your own future isn’t the smart route to stardom. But despite your own best intentions, perhaps it’s your medical group’s governance structure that’s holding you back.
|
|
|
| In fact, it’s very likely that the problem is systemic. The Medical Group Governance Matrix introduces a simple four-quadrant diagnostic tool to help you find out. It then shows you how to use that tool to build your better, more profitable future. Get your free copy Free.
|
| | | | Whenever you're ready, here are 4 ways I can help you and your business:
1. Download a copy of The Success Prescription. My book, The Success Prescription provides you with a framework for thinking about your success. Download a copy of The Success Prescription here.
2. Be a guest on “Wisdom. Applied. Podcast.” Although most of my podcasts involve me addressing an important point for your success, I’m always looking for guests who’d like to be interviewed about their personal and professional achievements and the lessons learned. Email me if you’re interested in participating.
3. Book me to speak to your group or organization. I’ve spoken at dozens of medical group, healthcare organization, university-sponsored, and private events on many topics such as The Impending Death of Hospitals, the strategic use of OIG Advisory Opinions, medical group governance, and succeeding at negotiations. For more information about a custom presentation for you, drop us a line.
4. If You’re Not Yet a Client, Engage Me to Represent You. If you’re interested in increasing your profit and managing your risk of loss, email me to connect directly. |
|
|
