As a junior partner, it is important that you prove yourself to your new colleagues, while building a rapport with your patients. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you begin to establish these important relationships.

Define Yourself

• What is your niche?
  • Is there something that you do is unique?
  • What can you build that is lacking in your new practice?
• What unique skills do you bring to your group?
  • Did you do a fellowship – if so where did you train and is there something that they do which you can bring to the group? It helps to transfer the reputation of your previous program to your new job.
• How can you support your group?
  • Think about new revenue streams
  • Take on the challenging cases that others may not have time to deal with

Develop Referral Patterns

• Biocard
• Face to Face introductions that you have joined the local medical group, this is usually done by the practice manager.
• Remember everyone talks.
  • There is nothing better than face to face interaction. Hospitalists often take care of inpatients and very few primary care doctors round on pts during the day. As such the "esprit de corps' has changed in the hospital and it has become harder to meet our medical colleagues. Some hospitals have "liaisons" to assist in these introductions. However setting up a list for yourself and going out to meet referring doctors on your own will be well received. Offering email and cell phone contact may show that you are serious about addressing any patient concerns swiftly.
  • Be nice to everyone. One bad interaction will spread much further than one good interaction. Let the OR nurses what your specific set of expertise are and set up lectures for the operating staff so they see what you are all about. Those referrals will grow quickly!

Staff Selection

• Everything reflects on you , which is why you should establish the kind of support staff that you are looking for
  • NP – independent practitioner that can see patients and treat them while you are not in the office.
  • PA – dependent
  • Medical office assistants
  • Secretaries – patient interactions

Publicity

• Your highest degree of visibility will come from patients talking about you to friends, family and their doctors. However when building a practice, one can define themselves with publicity. Either the hospital or your group can advertise your arrival with mailings to the community, patients and affiliated physicians.
• Other ways to successfully introduce yourself can be established through grand round talks at the hospital. Some larger medical groups have their own lunch time talks which can often be a great introduction to referring physicians.
• Talking to local advocacy groups, patient support groups and even the local high school can also assist in getting your name out there.
• Hospital announcements
  • There are public relations staff at all hospitals and most practices have advertised in the past, so they will have a vehicle for you to get noticed.
  • If you're headed into academics, certainly presenting abstracts and developing a niche that one publishes on can give you and the hospital a reason to publicize your work. FREE PRESS
• Local organizations
  • Patients support groups
  • Medical Schools
  • Colleges – participate in research projects or mentor ships
• Lecture in the community
• Academics (All these aspects can elevate your status locally as well as nationally)
  • Abstracts
  • Courses
  • Interviews and review articles in magazines and journals