According to the AMA, more than 54 percent of physicians over 55 own their own practice. Ownership drops to just under 28 percent for physicians under 40.
Even though fewer clinicians are aspiring to private practice work or ownership, these can still be valuable targets for pharmaceutical, medical device, software, and other companies selling to healthcare providers.
What is a private practice?
There are two types of private practices, or physician groups: solo practices and group practices.
A solo practice has a small staff and typically serves a limited patient population. Though these are becoming less common, they allow providers to cultivate close relationships with the populations they serve.
Group practices are categorized into single- and multi-specialty. Where single-specialty physician practices offer a specific care type (such as primary care or orthopedic care), multi-specialty groups provide patients with a variety of care services.
Why target private practice physicians?
Despite that fewer physicians own their own practices, many suppliers and other organizations may find it more straightforward to work with these care centers than larger hospitals and health systems. In a private practice, it is easier to pinpoint and contact the executives and decision-makers — and physician leaders may have more influence over purchasing decisions.
Some physicians are employed in private practices as well as other care facilities. These clinicians may be valuable influencers outside of the private practice, as they can recommend products or services used in one place of employment to another.
Because of ongoing healthcare consolidation, private practices are also likely to be part of the same networks and GPOs as hospitals, surgery centers, and other facility types—giving them access to greater purchasing power than an independent physician group.
How to target private practice physicians
How you go about finding physician group prospects is largely dependent on your goal as an organization. A consulting company, for example, might start by analyzing the clinical and quality metrics of the physician groups in a specific region to identify those that have the most room for improvement. Alternatively, a medical device or pharmaceutical company might segment target practices by diagnosis and procedure volume.
Once you’ve identified your ideal physician groups, you can identify your ideal physicians. These can be clinicians diagnosing or treating high volumes of patients, published physicians, or physician leaders. These providers will likely be your initial point of contact and may also agree to be champions of your product or service during the sales process.
Definitive Healthcare users have access to physician names and places of employment, as well as phone numbers, email addresses, and even LinkedIn profiles. LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for connecting with physicians and assessing their professional networks. If you’re lucky, you may have an existing professional relationship with a colleague of your target clinician.
Learn more
Are you looking for more information on how to target and sell to doctors more effectively? Watch our on-demand webinar, Selling to Doctors in the Fast-Growing Outpatient Market.
In this webinar, Enterprise Account Executive Maggie Fortune demonstrates how your team can:
- Identify ideal selling opportunities in the growing ambulatory care market—which includes 1.6 million allied health professionals
- Capitalize on the shift to outpatient care from inpatient acute care environments, including cardiology, orthopedics, gynecology, and advanced dermatology
- Target physician influencers across multiple facilities and networks
Improve your selling strategy today!
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