Re: Sharing space

[Guest guest]

Pts look for their own doc -- separate phone/contact should make this work fine.

Also if you have "advanced open access" (same day/next day appts), pts usually don't walk in, they call so they don't have to wait.

My experience, sharing a parttime office with another doc, now downsized that satellite to an exam room in a podiatrist's office. I'd also consider checking with your local specialists with multiple exam rooms, as they're less likely to be adversarial in "sharing pts."

Matt in Western PA

Sharing space

On sharing space...For may reasons, I would love to share space withother IMPs. I have considered sharing space with a local low-volumeFP. The thing that stopped us was the likelihood that patients wouldstop by wanting to be seen and, when they find their own docunavailable, expect to be seen by the other as an established patient,like they would in a group practice. But our plan was to keep ourpractices and patient panels completely separate. It seemed that beingtogether would create some patient animosity in this way. Of course, Idon't have that problem while sharing space with a specialist.Has anyone overcome this problem or have ideas on how to do so?Perhaps create the space such that there is a separate outsideentrance for each practice? But that means multiple waiting rooms,increased overhead... Haresch>> My feeling is that if the doc has to ramp up, he/she needs to be very> careful not to lose sight of what is important to the patient. That is> balancing access, efficiency (no wasted time), continuity, and excellent> patient education. Once the above issues are addressed, then the doc can> ramp up a bit without too much difficulty. However, if the ramp becomes> sustained, then the potential for loss of lifestyle and quality care> increases.> As for multiple IMPs working under one roof, I think that is cool as> long as they work independently and split the overhead in an equitable> fashion. In many ways, this could keep the overhead even lower and> increase the professional camaraderie. As with most stuff, the devil is> in the details.>

[Guest guest]

One solution that I have seen is that the office is set up with 1 waiting area but there a 2 reception areas on opposite sides of the room. This makes it clear that these are 2 separate practices. You can have 2 separate phone numbers-very important, You probably should have 2 separate emr's ( they can be the same emr but separate databases). This makes it easier to separate if that happens. You can still share exam rooms and equipment if you want to. It does take a little remodeling but just putting up walls is usually pretty cheap. If you plan to share a receptionist you can have the receptionist in the middle with 2 doors on the side. I think that there are problems with sharing a receptionist however. How would new patients be assigned , who would supervise this person. What if the 2 doctors have different ideas about scheduling and open access. From personal experience I think it would be better not to have a receptionist than to share one. Larry Lindeman MDRoscoe Village Family Medicine2255 W. RoscoeChicago, Illinois 60618 On sharing space...For may reasons, I would love to share space withother IMPs. I have considered sharing space with a local low-volumeFP. The thing that stopped us was the likelihood that patients wouldstop by wanting to be seen and, when they find their own docunavailable, expect to be seen by the other as an established patient,like they would in a group practice. But our plan was to keep ourpractices and patient panels completely separate. It seemed that beingtogether would create some patient animosity in this way. Of course, Idon't have that problem while sharing space with a specialist.Has anyone overcome this problem or have ideas on how to do so?Perhaps create the space such that there is a separate outsideentrance for each practice? But that means multiple waiting rooms,increased overhead... Haresch>> My feeling is that if the doc has to ramp up, he/she needs to be very> careful not to lose sight of what is important to the patient. That is> balancing access, efficiency (no wasted time), continuity, and excellent> patient education. Once the above issues are addressed, then the doc can> ramp up a bit without too much difficulty. However, if the ramp becomes> sustained, then the potential for loss of lifestyle and quality care> increases.> As for multiple IMPs working under one roof, I think that is cool as> long as they work independently and split the overhead in an equitable> fashion. In many ways, this could keep the overhead even lower and> increase the professional camaraderie. As with most stuff, the devil is> in the details.>

[Guest guest]

>

> One solution that I have seen is that the office is set up with 1

> waiting area but there a 2 reception areas on opposite sides of the

> room.

> Larry Lindeman MD

I always wondered how you could survive in a city like Chicago. My main problem

in a suburb

is office space : too big for me, tough to find smaller one. The lease is

running out in one

year and unless I find somebody to share space with, I will move but don't know

where. The

new hospital is asking 33$/sq foot. A colleague bought a larger space and I am

considering

renting a room from him. We are both IM but I don't think it will be a problem,

especially

since we could help each other : like today, I have 2 patients at the hospital

, after 2 weeks

with no day off, he also has to go for one patient, I think we could both

benefit from splitting

sundays rounds. At 30 patients/wk it will be time to quit the second job.