Post-COVID-19 Practice Management Tips

At the end of the Road Map to Recovery webinar, the audience asked our panelists few questions to our experts. The panelists included Zoe Diana Draelos, MD, founder, Dermatology Consulting Services, PLLC, High Point, North Carolina and featured Carole Foos, CPA and tax consultant at OJM Group, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio; Sarah Jackson, MD, Audubon Dermatology, New Orleans, Louisiana; and Jason Staback, PA-C, general and cosmetic dermatology for South Jersey Dermatology, New Jersey. 

One audience member asked whether Jackson mandates vaccines in her practice. 

As of right now, her practice does not, and she is waiting on more guidance before deciding. Instead, her practice chose to enforce policies that would temper behaviors and were advised to offer incentives for employees to get vaccinated. Of her staff, 95% are vaccinated. 

Another question asked Staback how much he recommends clinicians spend on social media marketing.

Staback mentioned that paying for a marketing firm may help lighten the load on practices, but for how much to spend, it depends on how big of a scope the practice would like to reach and their current budget.

Jackson commented that she did not think that practices have to hire an expert and she is a big believer in internal marketing. 

Foos was then asked about the cash balance plan.

“So, a cash balance plan is really just a type of defined benefit plan. It's one that we see often. It's a little bit easier to implement and kind of for employees to understand,” Foos said. “So typically, in a normal defined benefit plan, if you think about the big pension plans, like a right that our parents used to have, but every company has a formula based on how long you work and what you're going to earn.”

It’s a percentage of every employee salary and it is set aside each year. It is employee funded and as an employer, the clinicians may have to match the contribution or have a profit sharing related to that.

Next, Staback was asked how much money he put aside for his first purchase of a device for an aesthetic practice.

He said because of the low interest rates, he tries to put as little money as possible into a device and instead tries to finance. This way he can get a greater return on his money.

Lastly, Draelos was asked about her experience in developing her own product line. 

“Well, there are cosmetic houses where you can just call them up and tell them I want to put my name on a cleanser, a moisturizer, a sunscreen, and a foot cream. What they'll do is they'll give you their various formulations, you'll pick the one you want,” Draelos said. “How many bottles do you want? Say you want 200 of each, they'll make your label, you design your logo, they put it on a bottle, and they'll mail it to you.”

There are other manufacturing types where clinicians choose the formulation they would like or design a label on a predeveloped product. According to Draelos, practices would need about $50,000 to get started, with $20,000 going to the formulator. If the practice wants something more novel or has a special ingredient, it will be more expensive.

The most difficult part is inventory and balancing the need. If practices are not careful, they can end up with a large quantity of product that will go bad. 

To read the first 3 parts of this series, please click here. Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Reference:

1. Draelos ZD, Jackson S, Foos C, Staback J. Road to Recovery. Webinar presented at the: Dermatology Time’s Roadmap to Recover; June 16, 2021.