Medical coworking is a relatively new thing. While coworking in the traditional office environment has become very popular and has been around for several decades, there are only a handful of medical coworking facilities that are trying to bring the same types of benefits to doctors that traditional office coworking providers have been providing to other types of professional office users. Here are six benefits to doctors of using a medical coworking facility.
Cost Control
The medical profession is an expensive one. Most doctors will have taken out significant loans as part of their studies, and the costs continue even once you become a doctor and start a private practice. Traditional medical office space is expensive, and often requires that you take on more space than you really need because the building owner will only want to demise their space so small (typically the smallest space you can get is about 1,200- 1,500 sf) which is often more than a starting practice really needs. This is an inefficient way to run things.
Using a coworking space helps with this. You only pay for what you actually use, and you don’t need to make a huge upfront investment, like you would in a traditional space.
The other costs, such as utilities, cleaning, and maintenance, are handled by the coworking space. In addition, the cost of things like waiting rooms and receptionists are shared by the other coworking members and are included in the price of your coworking membership
Network Power
One of the big advantages of working in a shared space is the connections you can make. Being able to network with other medical practitioners is a great way for you to pick up useful knowledge – and crucially, gain more patients. Other doctors will be able to refer them to you if you are in a different field.
Without being in a coworking space, you won’t have the opportunity to network as frequently on a daily basis. This means you are unlikely to be at the front of people’s minds when it comes to referrals.
Time Savings
Having your own office means spending a lot of time on non-medical things. Primarily, this relates to the maintenance – it’s your office, so your responsibility. But by essentially outsourcing this to the owner of the coworking space, you are giving yourself the gift of time. This provides you with so many opportunities – you could see several more patients per week, or perhaps give yourself an extra few hours to network with other medical professionals. Either way, you’ll be able to do things that are of greater benefit to you and the patient community.
Value-adds
Medical coworking spaces offer a range of extras that can be a big help. For example, you will be able to have a much higher quality location and buildout than you could typically justify on your own. Medical coworking facilities may have their own receptionist which you don’t have to hire and pay on your own. Some may also have automated patient check in systems, where the patient walks into the waiting room and selects their doctor on an electronic tablet. You will then receive a simple text notification, informing you that your patient has checked in.
Flexibility
If you are in the early stages of your career, you may not have built up a large enough customer base to be open five days a week. If this is the case, coworking spaces are perfect because they allow you to rent for just a few days a week. Another doctor can then use that same space for the rest of the week. This is why medical coworking spaces can offer much lower rates compared to traditional medical office space.
You can then increase the amount of time you rent your space with minimal notice or commitment as your patient base grows. This type of flexibility simply won’t be available to you if you were to purchase your own commercial office.
Easier Growth
There will come a time when you need to hire extra staff or doctors. This often means large, additional rental and infrastructure costs if you are in a traditional medical office. But in a medical coworking space, they simply become another member of the community. This is one of the reasons so many medical practitioners embrace and enjoy coworking – it allows them to scale up with less effort, planning, and commitment.
It’s always been important for the medical profession to evolve with the times, and find ways to ease pressures on doctors. When you consider the efficiencies medical coworking spaces offer – both financial and non-financial – you can see why they are being sought out by many doctors as a better alternative to direct leasing.
For more information on how you can start or scale your practice, with high efficiency and low risk, call us on 480-616-2400 for a quick no-pressure chat about the benefits medical coworking can provide you and your patients today.
