It has been approximately six months since I last wrote anything about my practice and how it has been progressing. I have had a few very good reasons for the delay and wanted to share them with you.

First, I am very happy to tell everyone that I am a new father! My daughter was born in April and is doing very well. Unfortunately she was born a little over 10 weeks premature, and we spent every day of the first 7 weeks in her life visiting her in the neonatal intensive care unit. I have developed the utmost respect for those nurses and was amazed how quickly we became a family. They were absolutely incredible. Now if they could only babysit when my wife and I need to sleep.

Second, I just finished my DNP degree. I now understand why they call a doctorate a terminal degree -- it nearly killed me! I decided to get this degree with the hope that this would help in marketing my practice. I wanted to market myself as a category authority to my patients and felt that getting a clinical doctorate would facilitate that. What it actually did was teach me some valuable skills -- when a new opportunity presented itself the same day that my wife was admitted to the hospital with preeclampsia.

Opportunity Knocks
I was contacted by a local human resources manager for an international company interested in hiring a nurse practitioner to see their employees in the workplace. The company's hope was to offer employees a convenient alternative to traditional medical practices, to improve productivity by decreasing absenteeism and to save the company and employees money on their healthcare expenses.

While at a meeting with the local HR manager and the corporate executive, I suggested that perhaps a better alternative for the company was to contract with my practice to provide an inclusive primary care office with onsite workman's compensation treatment and an employee wellness program.

Custom HealthCare LLC would be a one-stop shop for employees and management. We would market wellness to employees through an innovative program that would encourage them to use the clinic and improve their health. Custom HealthCare would track clinic use, improvement in health risks, and productivity changes.

Research demonstrated that this type of clinic had the potential to save the company more with productivity improvements and healthcare cost decreases than it would cost to hire Custom HealthCare. The human resources executive stated he was interested and asked me to write a formal proposal.

Answering the Knock
This was exciting, and the thought of getting my company to the size that I have envisioned made me grin from ear to ear! The course work involved in my DNP degree had required me to write a large proposal in the past, and I would use that knowledge to grab a hold of this opportunity. I spent the next 2 months pouring over and synthesizing research, as well as the company healthcare information. I also met with my marketing group to develop some innovative marketing ideas for employees and the company.

After much work and effort, I presented the proposal, and (dramatic pause) the human resource executive asked me to teleconference with their benefit consultant group. Due to the cost, they were not yet ready to jump on board with my proposal. HR remained interested but wanted to make sure the benefit of the program was worth the cost and its associated risk in our current economic slowdown.

After surviving a grilling by their benefit consultants, I also found that they were worried about my company's lack of experience in worksite health. I then spent the next 90 days putting together a pro-forma letter to demonstrate the proposed savings and answer many more questions regarding my company. Additionally, my idea sparked them to get quotes from national worksite clinic vendors. While it was not specifically stated, I was up against some very big names and felt that my chances were slipping. My proposal required the company to pay an annual flat rate per employee, and I began to worry that my price may have been too expensive. 

In the end, the company decided not to contract with any worksite vendors, but instead elected to increase their employee's health benefits. I was reassured when I was informed that my prices were in line with the other vendors and there might be future opportunities with this company. They specifically appreciated the fact that I was so customer-service oriented, and that focus is what kept me in the game when they usually would have evaluated only the larger companies.

Assessing the Outcome
While it wasn't stated, I believe the critical mistake I made was not producing an offer that reduced the company's risk in a brand new program with an untested company. My proposal, and the research included, clearly pointed to the potential savings of a worksite clinic, but I had no evidence that my program would have a similar effect. I should have used this opportunity and taken more risk in order to clearly demonstrate that I could produce. This would have been important for expansion, not only in this company, but for others as well.

Throughout this process, I have learned a great deal about my company, how it might be perceived by other businesses and the importance of customer service (not only to my patients, but to potential business clients as well). I learned that I still need to spend time actively putting myself into my customer's shoes as I develop new offerings. The next company to which I sell my services will have the opportunity to experience the type of savings I expect but with little or no financial risk to them. I will take on that risk in order to demonstrate what Custom HealthCare can do for their bottom line and their employees' health.