Non-physician considering becoming an operating partner in starting/scaling a medical practice. How viable is this path?
Hello everyone. I'm looking for feedback on a business idea I've been considering: becoming a non-clinical operating partner to a physician starting or scaling an independent practice.
I'm 27 and relatively early in my career, so I'm not presenting myself as someone who has already figured this out. I'm trying to determine whether this is a skillset and career path worth deliberately developing over the next several years.
I'm not a physician, but my background is heavily focused on the operational and technology side of healthcare. I have a bachelor's degree in Health Informatics and Health Information Management and have worked for several years as an EHR/System Administrator. Most of my experience has been in smaller practices, including an organization with 10+ locations and roughly 40–60 providers.
Working in the systems role has given me a pretty good understanding of how practices operate behind the scenes. I've worked closely with operations, supported providers and staff, participated in implementations, and dealt with the EHR, workflows, technology, and administrative processes that keep the practice running. Being responsible for the systems side has given me an "under the hood" perspective that I don't think I would have gotten from simply working in healthcare IT at a large health system.
I've also encountered several physicians who have talked about wanting to open their own practice but were hesitant because of everything required on the business and administrative side: selecting and implementing systems, hiring, workflows, vendor management, compliance, operations, etc. That's what initially made me think there might be an opportunity here.
My biggest weakness currently is probably revenue cycle, since I haven't worked in that area day-to-day. I also don't have clinical experience and don't intend to become a clinician. My interest is specifically in the business and operational side.
The concept I'm considering is somewhat different from simply becoming a practice administrator. I'd like to eventually develop enough expertise to become an operating/business partner to a physician who wants to start or expand a practice. The physician would focus on medicine and clinical leadership while I would focus on building and operating the business around them.
From a financial perspective, what interests me is whether there is a viable ownership/economic model here. A physician could hire an administrator or outsource many of these functions, but perhaps there is a case for bringing someone in earlier who is willing to take on some of the operational risk and build the infrastructure alongside the physician. In return, the non-clinical partner would need some form of economic participation that makes taking on that risk worthwhile.
I'm considering pursuing an MBA and deliberately filling in the gaps in my knowledge, particularly around finance, revenue cycle, practice economics, contracting, and healthcare business operations.
I'm not committed to this idea yet. I'm trying to figure out whether I'm identifying a legitimate business opportunity or simply overestimating the value of my current experience.
For physicians who have started independent practices: how did you approach the business/administrative side in the early stages? Would you see value in an operating partner who had strong healthcare IT and operational experience but wasn't a clinician? And from a financial perspective, is there enough upside for both the physician and non-clinical partner to make an ownership/economic arrangement worthwhile?
I'd particularly appreciate perspectives from physicians who have actually started practices and people who have worked on the business side of physician-owned practices.
Thanks!
Edit: I should have mentioned I’d want to put my own capital. This isn’t just me trying to be a leach but I get how it sounds that way.