People often ask me for a list. “What are the five things a physician owner should stop doing as the practice grows?”
I’ve thought about it. Honestly, I don’t think there’s a universal five.
There are two questions. Everything else comes from them.
Before you keep any task on your plate, ask:
1. Does this add clinical value?
2. Does this add to the bottom line, or move the strategy forward?
If the answer to both is no, it shouldn’t be yours.
That’s it. That’s the test.
Run it honestly and a lot falls out of an owner’s week very quickly. Reviewing routine purchase orders. Fixing scheduling issues. Chasing vendor problems. Being the first stop for every staffing question.
Then comes the follow-up I always hear:
“But I don’t have anyone I can give this to.”
That’s useful information. It means the practice doesn’t have the right staffing complement for what it needs to do.
So the first job becomes figuring out what support you actually need to free up your own time. Sometimes that means hiring someone strong. Sometimes it means admitting someone in the wrong role needs to move on.
Because the job of a physician owner is to make sure you and your providers are doing great clinical work, and that the practice is growing.
Not reviewing purchase orders because there’s no one else to do it.
Run the test on your last week. What would come off your plate?
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