6 Tips to Adding Aesthetic Medical Procedures to your Practice
by Jeff Russell

With 12,000 Americans turning 50 every day, many doctors are expanding their existing practices by

adding non-reimbursable medical aesthetic procedures. The International Association for Physicians in

Aesthetic Medicine has completed this tip guide designed to help physicians who want to add aesthetic medical procedures to their practice.

Physicians need to find a way to utilize their skills to expand the scope of their practice. The growing demand for personal attention and service in medicine may provide opportunities for physicians who see the benefit of addressing these needs.

Don't try and re-invent the wheel, learn from our experience, here are 6 tips that will help you successful add medical aesthetics to your practice.

1. Do It Because You Want To Do It Adding medical aesthetic procedures is going to add another dimension to your practice. Adding a cash-based revenue center to your practice should yield great returns. However, if you are not doing what you truly enjoy, it will show on your bottom-line. As you will probably be spending more time and money than you originally planned, you need to make sure adding aesthetic medical procedures is what you really want to do.

Why are more and more physicians looking at adding these cash-based aesthetic medicine procedures? One reason is fees are much higher than those for reimbursable procedures.

2. Start with a Road Map You should have a clear strategy of what services, procedures and products you will offer. Don't try to be everything to everyone. Adding medical aesthetics typically combines medical and aesthetic procedures along with complementary skin care products.

One thing I strongly advocate is having a plan. You should have a business plan that outlines what you want to accomplish (goals), and a road map on how you are going to get there. You should have a marketing plan to clearly outline what you are going to do in order to get the best return on your investment (time).

A very important part of your business plan is to clearly understand what the top minimally invasive procedures are, and who is having them done.

3. Product, Equipment, Service

Before you purchase any equipment, you should know which procedures you are going to perform in your practice. Hair removal, although popular, is very commoditized. You may want to focus on vascular and pigmented lesions, skin tightening, wrinkles and acne scars, and skin rejuvenation. It is also important that your equipment can be easily upgraded as new technologies become available, and not need to be replaced.

Don't forget about ensuring each room has sufficient space to highlight the skin care line you will also carry. When choosing your skin care products, choose the ones you really believe in. Otherwise, you are missing a huge profit opportunity.

4. Building your Dream Team

Since you will not want to be tied down to the day to day operations of the medical aesthetic portion of the practice, you may consider hiring a medical aesthetics director. This person needs to have exceptional customer service values, and be talented enough to choose and develop the right team to perform your medical aesthetics procedures.

The nice thing about offering medical aesthetic procedures is that in most States you do not have to do the actual procedures, you can hire an experienced aesthetician, RN, PA, or NP to do them. This allows that part of your practice to generate revenue whether you are there or not.

5. Marketing and Promotion

First of all you need to let all your current patients know about your new aesthetic medicine procedures, but do not think this is enough! You will need to have a comprehensive marketing plan prior to your grand opening. You may want to offer free informational sessions on popular topics (i.e. wellness) or a special promotional treatment package.

6. Don't forget about regulatory and insurance issues

Since you will be incorporating medical procedures in your practice you need to ensure you have the proper liability coverage for the procedures you will be performing. While you may already have malpractice insurance, it may not cross-over to your medical aesthetic practice. Many insurers are now requiring offices adding or expanding cosmetic-aesthetic procedures to their practice to document clinical and/or accredited training on all non-ablative modalities before a policy of coverage will be extended. Please consult your insurance provider and your legal advisor to ensure you are accurately covered.

The underlying theme here is - Be Prepared! The key to any business success, including expanding your practice, is having clinical expertise and to be constantly cross-marketing your available medical aesthetic treatments to your regular patient base.

As you develop and grow your aesthetic practice, you are going to experience the same growing pains common to any new business, the key is identifying them and responding to them.