Ahh - dear human,
Such a great question. When you enter into private practice, the idea that you should leverage from the principal practice is good, but how to do it is another story.
Some things are already set, for example, the brand, the phone number and yes, at times, even the fees.
So a few questions remain:
Should the principal clinician set the fees for the contractor?
Technically, no. As you are running your own business, you are not required to "fall in line" with what the principal wishes to charge. However, if you are paying for administration services it will make your life and the administration team members life a helluva lot easier if you can streamline the session rate. When you work in private practice, while individualisation is a great idea, in practice, it doesn't really work. It's too confusing to have several practitioners who charge different fees (some charging different rates depending on the time of the day) along with any third party agreements and concession rates along with bulk bill rates. It's too much. The workflow process is set up to fail straight from the start.
We suggest that if you're uncomfortable with the session rates, that you work with the principal to get an understanding of how to have conversations around the session fees. If you're still not comfortable with the rates, then you have the ability to leave the practice.
Should I use their business cards?
Technically, no. However, one aspect of leveraging the practice is the ability to let the principal practice market for you. Streamlining is key. Therefore, consistency is necessary. It's very difficult for the principal to go and market 68479247 brands. While marketing the clinician is relatively easy, marketing every clinician's business name is impossible. Therefore, we do recommend you use the business cards of the principal. (With that said, why are you using business cards anymore? With technology now, you should be emailing the client their appointment information and allowing the client to book online. Thus removing the need for business cards.)
Can the practice force me to charge a cancellation fee?
This came through as a question to me a few weeks ago. Again, technically, no. What’s the relationship with the client? Will it disrupt the client journey? Did the client not attend because they aren't engaged? While it's all well and good to have a billable hour, even with failed to attend appointments, the client journey is more important. With that said, if you're unsure how to charge cancellation fees, we suggest you register for our free webinar to help you with this. It can be best practice to enforce your fee if you tell the client you have one.
For more information on ways to work with your principal clinician in private practice, register for our Contractor Conversations Course, release date 31st Oct 2019.
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