To P.E. or not to P.E.
John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP In last month’s column, I presented an overview of capital sources that can be used to fund your urgent care start-up or expansion. This month I will discuss the different sources of debt and equity capital. Much of the decision regarding which capital source is best for you is determined by your stage of development. For a startup, you will probably have to use traditional bank debt or raise …
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December 2011
Potential Pitfalls While Finding the Needle in the Haystack
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP It’s nearly midnight on Saturday and I am between patients in an ED on an unseasonably cold November evening in Phoenix, Arizona. Among the head bleeds, overdoses, MI’s, and strokes, I have had these chief complaints thrown at me: “Smoke inhalation after blowing out a candle” “I can’t stop playing with my number one.” “I’m here for my 40-year-old physical.” (The patient was 43.) “I fell asleep at a …
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November 2011
Aequanimitas*
“Thou must be like a promontory of the sea, against which, though the waves beat continually, yet it both itself stands, and about it are those swelling waves stilled and quieted.” —Marcus Aurelius It is important to reflect occasionally on where one’s path began inasmuch as we owe a debt to those who have advanced our current purpose, whether family, business, or profession. The goal of this reflection should hopefully include an appreciation of …
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October 2011
Selling Your Urgent Care? Here’s What’s Involved
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP A large urgent care group has just offered to buy your centers. So now what? First, get some advice. This process is incredibly time-consuming inasmuch as the amount of material and the degree of detailed information required before a sale is consummated is daunting. Also, the way you position and promote your center and the thoroughness of your disclosures will speak volumes about your abilities and will ultimately be …
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September 2011
Are Urgent Cares Liable?
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Full disclosure: I was not always the smooth, confident provider I hope I am today. No, there was a time when I would say or do things while practicing medicine that would shine a bright light upon my medical inexperience, naiveté, or general ignorance. To wit, the emergency medicine residents where I trained were pressed into servitude twice yearly to go out to the local high schools and perform …
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