3 ways new physicians can ease the jump from training to practice

Finishing residency on June 30 and starting practice July 1 sounds efficient. It rarely is. New physicians arrive with no contract experience, credentialing that takes months and no guide to the institution's culture, and until they bill under their own credentialed number, they don't get paid.

On this week’s Five Minute Practice Fix, Neil Baum, MD, lays out three moves for the jump from training to practice: start credentialing four to six months ahead, find a respected older physician as a mentor and take at least a month off before day one. His point: The July 1 start date can wait.

Welcome to Five Minute Practice Fix, featuring instructional videos by physician and business of medicine expert Neil Baum, M.D. These videos are 5 to 10 minutes long and will provide practical ideas and suggestions that have been tested in his practice or used by other physicians, significantly improving the efficiency and productivity of their medical practices.

About Neil Baum, M.D.

Baum is a professor of clinical urology at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the author of Marketing Your Clinical Practice: Ethically, Effectively, Economically, which is in its fourth edition, has sold over 175,000 copies and has been translated into Spanish. He has also written The Complete Business Guide to a Successful Medical Practice, which was published in 2015. He also authored What’s Going on Down There?, which has served as a guide for women’s health. He has written 10 books on practice management and the business of medicine.

Baum was the columnist for American Medical News for more than 25 years. He wrote the popular column “The Bottom Line” for Urology Times for more than 20 years. He has authored or coauthored over 250 articles in peer-reviewed medical publications on various urologic topics, as well as articles on practice management.

He has also authored The Business Basics of Building and Managing a Healthcare Practice (Springer 2019), which emphasizes the importance of being involved in the business of a medical practice.