JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP In this challenging financial market, in this space (urgent care medicine), should bankruptcy be something with which you are overly concerned? The answer is an unequivocal, “yes!” Urgent care ownership is not for the faint of heart or the short of capital. As a friend of mine said, “This business has a lot of moving parts and misfiring on any one of them can cause your business to be …
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September 2008
July/August 2008
Toward a Happier World: The Art of Patient Service
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Customer service is a trendy theme in virtually every business these days. However, the gap between “woulda, shoulda, coulda” and reality is invariably significant. Simply put, the concept of customer service is given universal lip service, but it is rarely incorporated into the fabric of an urgent care clinic. An effective patient service program requires five core elements: planning, training, execution, evaluation, and reward/recognition.
Read MoreBankruptcy: When BK Doesn’t Mean You Can Have It Your Way
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP My favorite movie—other than Wedding Crashers, of course—is It’s a Wonderful Life. I watch it every Christmas. One of the most memorable scenes is where Uncle Billy misplaces the envelope containing the deposits. Once George realizes the gravity of the situation, he confronts Uncle Billy: “Where’s that money, you stupid old fool? Where’s that money? Do you realize what this means? It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison, that’s …
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June 2008
Send Lawyers, Guns and Money: Asset Protection for Providers and Urgent Care Owners
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Although I am sure I have been described as an Excitable Boy, God knows I am no Warren Zevon. However, ol’ Warren correctly described the mindset of most providers and business owners when their personal assets are attached to a judgment. This article tackles the complex subject of asset protection. When an acquaintance of mine (an attorney) learned that he was going to be named in a suit alleging …
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May 2008
There Will be Blood: Key Reasons That Start-ups Fail
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP In the movie There Will be Blood, character Henry Brands says, “That part of me is gone…working and not succeeding—all my failures has [sic] left me….I just don’t… care.” At the end, after the struggles, “I don’t care” is a common aphorism of the wanton entrepreneur. Maybe it is uttered during the futile death throes of the dying business. Or, maybe after leaving the bank president’s office. I suppose …
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