If you had to make a list of some of the most important things you need to be watching about your medical practice on a regular basis, your revenue goals would undoubtedly be right at the top. But having a sense of how much money you’re making and having goals in place that you’re working towards are two different concepts and should always be treated as such.
If your practice isn’t earning what you’d like to every month, having these types of logical, thoughtful goals can be a way to course correct when you need it the most. Actually setting those goals, however, is a job that requires you to keep a few key things in mind.
The Art of SMART Goals
In an effort to better grow your practice in all of the ways that you need, your revenue goals need to be as SMART as possible – that is, specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based. This process further breaks down as follows:
- Specific. What is the actual amount of revenue required in order for your practice to stay open? This is the minimum amount of revenue that you must hit.
- Measurable. How much money does each procedure earn your practice? Divide your specific goal up by the number of procedures you perform and you now have an accurate, measurable goal.
- Attainable. You know the number of procedures you need to hit your goal. How realistic is that, really? If it’s not attainable, what do you need to do to make it so? Add new procedures? Get new clients?
- Relevant. Goals can and should change as your practice around you does the same. Once a particular revenue goal stops being relevant to where you are today, you need to start again and come up with another one to help carry you further down the path to tomorrow.
- Time-based. You know how much money you need to earn and, more importantly, why. But you don’t have an unlimited amount of time to do this. For the best chance of success, you MUST set a proper time frame in order to evaluate how far along you are towards the goal in question.
Provided that you’ve set all of your revenue goals based on the following criteria, you’ll be able to do more than just keep your employees paid and keep the lights on. You’ll be well on your way to the scalable, successful medical practice you’ve always wanted.
