Starting an Ultrasound Medical Imaging Business
This is a brainstorming idea and we can discuss and talk about it farther if any body interested please let me know. To move forward we must start somewhere.
For some of us who have been doing Ultrasound for so long we are actually entrepreneurs but we lack the sense of adventure, know how to starting an ultrasound medical imaging business that run ,managed and operated by sonographers .With per dime Radiologist or Radiologist on Contract that provide the report. My dream place is 10 ultrasound rooms run by 12 sonographers who are working full time or part time in our place and other places until we can run the full time booking for each room without the hustle and passel of working for others.
Breaking Into the Ultrasound Market
Take a look at how CIHI says Canada is set to spend $211 billion by the year’s end. What is the money being spent on? Previous reports have suggested that government payouts to doctors topped $22 billion in 2012 — CIHI is saying spending on physicians has reached $31 billion this year.
Americans spend more than $2 trillion a year on healthcare, accounting for approximately 16% of the nation’s entire GDP. Yet many entrepreneurs are hesitant to enter the field because they believe they need an advanced medical background to be successful. Canadians will have racked up a bill of $211 billion on health care for the year 2013 alone, a new report says.In a new national report that crunches the numbers, the Canadian Institute for Health Information says that multi-billion-dollar price tag breaks down to about $5,988 per patient.
It may sound like $211 billion is breaking the bank, but CIHI says the 2013 increase in spending is only 2.6 per cent. That’s less than half the average growth of seven per cent per year that was recorded between 2000 and 2010.I will hire only those Sonographers who graduated from USA or Canadian sonography universities along with Australia, UK OR Ireland, with ARDMS, RMSKS, RVT AND Sonography Canada qualifications only, and those who has at least 10 years experience to be a share holders in our team.
To launch an ultrasound business, a medical background is useful. Additionally, you and/or your staff will need to be certified sonographers with current RDMS (Registered Diagnostic Medical Stenography credentials. RMSKS, RVT, and Sonography Canada .I will not take anybody who finish a bridging program or short course or hands on training somewhere and passing the ARDMS exam they must be qualified with North American, Canada, Australia , UK or Ireland University degrees in Ultrasound. Stenographer who has no RMSKS will not touch any MSK ultrasound exam until he or she passes the exam. I see how much damage is done and how many missed pathology is reported by those who have no qualification in the field they working on, same with the RVT, Cardio etc.
We will need certified radiologists either on staff or available on an outsourced basis / per dime . Sonographic equipment is another hurdle we will need to overcome during the early stages of our business plan. Ultrasound equipment is expensive, so we’ll need to shop around to identify machines that are right for our business model and budget. Physicians expect to receive results quickly, so your setup will need to be capable of immediately sending imagery to physicians and radiologists with PACS and computer system.
Mobile Ultrasound Opportunities that we can and offer
Our clinic could offer mobile ultrasound to the senior homes and those who can’t make it to our clinic for a fee. Mobile ultrasound businesses are becoming more commonplace as a way for physicians to bill patients directly while outsourcing ultrasound activities to an external provider. The value proposition for physicians is patient convenience, greater control and increased revenues for us and the physicians. As a mobile ultrasound provider, we’ll need to invest in durable equipment that can easily be carried in and out of patients’ homes.
Start-up entrepreneurs like us slave over the creation of their business plans, investing countless hours in the details of their start up strategy. I have every single protocols, policy and procedure on file, CD, manual and everything ready to pass the college requirement along with the infection control file, EV room protocols and file, and the city hall applications and bylaws that can be obtained from the city hall of the city we will operate in.
The projected cities that can benefits both patients and our business are Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, and Okanagan –BC etc. Many other large towns. The absence of a thorough industry analysis may incline lenders and/or other external stakeholders to take a negative view of our company.
Share holders to help start the business, we will require doctors to provide us with the patients a market team from the business and marketing students can help us to do that as their final year project we will meet with doctors and let them know why our team are the best in the market in term of qualifications, registrations in each speciality, along with top notch reporting system that send the report fast to the physician or the service provider.
We can earn their trust by providing excellent ultrasound work those other places only trying their best to do. In the last 3 years alone In Calgary alone I managed to find more than 270 missing pathologies from other clinics Industry analysts are critical for contextualizing your start up within an industry setting. Whatever the reason behind the missing pathology is not my focus but the service providers start to take notice and they talk and they know where to send their patients I heard it from my own patients. We can get those service providers as long we do our job professionally and with excellence.
Take a Look at Competitors
Before we open an ultrasound medical imaging business in one area, it’s worthwhile to find out how many competitors you have in that area, how many doctors and medical clinics, physiotherapists, chiropractic doctors and other service providers re around. We must ask about their need , what other clinics do not do, what they are looking for and what service they want to see in the market close to them
Prior to opening our doors for business, we must be sure that we fully understand the competitive landscape and where your new business will fit in.
Turning Competitors into Collaborators
If we are interested in starting an ultrasound medical imaging business, we must be sure to learn as much as we can from somebody who is already in the business. I contacted and studied so many business that survived and those who file for bankruptcy and researched the reason behind the success and failure of each clinic.
If you think your local competitors will give you advice, you’re being overoptimistic. It’d be crazy for them to teach you the business. I know many of those people very well and they fight each others like dogs. The only point they miss is that they are not investing in their sonographers 100%. That’s why they have so many sonographers with MSK injuries, increase stress level , increased resignations ratios, and the worse is the missing pathologies as result of bad exam time management and forcing the sonographers to do more with less time ,with no bonus sharing program and no union protection.
Fortunately, somebody who runs an ultrasound medical imaging business outside of our community is willing to share their entrepreneurial wisdom with us, given that we don’t compete with them in their area. In that case, the business owner may be more than happy to discuss the industry with us.
Find Ultrasound Medical Imaging Business Owners Who Might Advise You
Gaining Access to Ultrasound Medical Imaging Business Ownership
Common sense will tell you that to enter the world of ultrasound medical imaging business, we we’ll either need to start a new business or acquire a promising company on the business-for-sale marketplace. But despite the attraction start-ups have for many entrepreneurs, we should also consider the benefits of buying an ultrasound medical imaging business.
The down economy has resulted in a glut of available businesses, many of which can be acquired for bargain prices in different cities.
There are many other points to cover with the city hall, land owner, location, and other competitors in the area, the physician college of the province we will operate in, their by law and protocol, the list of service providers and doctors in the area where our clinic will be opened. The staff who will work as share holders and not just workers as without sonographers all other aspects in the clinic is useless. They work as a team but the clerks, cleaners, and paper pusher do not make money , the sonographers does and so they should get the upper hand in any sonography business from the operation to management
Thank you very much
Steve Ramsey, PhD- Public Health. ARDMS, RMSKS,CRGS,CRVS,CRCS.
MSc Medical Ultrasound. BSc Diagnostic Imaging.Radiography diploma, sonography diploma. Natural health Diploma.
Calgary- Canada