When considering starting a medical office, one of the biggest considerations is the actual Medical Office Location.

Choosing the site for your practice is not as simple, there are multiple variables. The location of your facility will have a significant impact on your practice.

Ideal Lifestyle

First and foremost, consider building a practice around the type of lifestyle you’d ideally like. If you enjoy city life, then choose a metropolitan location, if you want more of a suburban style of living, then perhaps a less densely populated area could be a good start. You might also consider a rural or seaside option. All these areas have a need of most types of medical professionals, so the choice really comes down to personal preference.

If you already have a place to live, you might also consider your commute to an office as a factor in medical office location. The quality of your life is significantly altered if you have an additional 2–3 driving hours added onto the start and ending of your day.

Demographics

Once you’ve chosen a general location, you can then move to studying the demographics of the area. When looking at demographics, it is important to look at more than just the patient population. Also consider the workforce demographics:

– Are there factories?
– Retail businesses?
– Professional offices?
– Schools?
– Universities?
– Government organizations?

Sources for this information can typically be found at the local chamber of commerce. If you have plans to work with a specific hospital in the area, they should be in the area, they should be able to provide you with useful demographic information. Another important thing to look for is whether the area is growing. An area whose population is declining might be a risk factor in your medical office location selection.

Insurance Logistics

Who’s the biggest employer in the area? Knowing these things will not only inform where you place your practice, but how many of your patients may be covered by a particular PPO or HMO.

You may also find in your particular location that there is a higher level of Medicare, Medicaid or Tricare patients who are needing care.

Knowing this information upfront so you can consider what type of medical billing processes you are likely to be using the most.

Consider Competition

Although medicine is not known as a service that is directly competitive, it is important to consider who might already be serving this patient base.

– How many competing medical practitioners are there in the area?
– What do those competing medical practitioners do?
– How big are their medical practices?
– Are their medical specialties different than yours?

– Is it likely to be an overcrowded market, or one that needs your services?

As a starting point, try to calculate a ratio of patients to medical provider. For primary care doctors, the average patient base can be from 1200 – 1900, depending on the team member size. For each specialty, your medical association should have recommended benchmarks.

Take your Time

These considerations may take you several months to figure out, but they are worth the time and effort. Knowing a location well before starting is a great step to being better prepared. The choice of an optimal Medical Office Location will have an affect not only financially, but also on your personal wellbeing.