Kim Baird, RN, MSN, FNP Director and FNP Care Provider Woodbine Family Care Center, Woodbine, GA

How did you finance your start up and how do you maintain your finances?

While at NP school, I started finding out about equipment and how much it would cost. Through the use of bids and quotes from various medical supply companies I was able to determine my equipment and supply start-up costs. I used my husband's business savvy as a resource. I read articles relating to practice management and attended a conference in Washington D.C. on reimbursement of Nursing Services long before getting in to NP school. Most importantly, while many blew off some of the reading assignments, I paid special attention to all of the reading assignments

When I graduated in 1994, my husband and I bought an old hardware store. I specifically sought a historical designation for the older area of downtown in order to receive help with federal tax credit funds that were available for such designated areas. I worked with the National Historic Register and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to obtain the designation. The hardware store was a beautiful 4500 square foot building; my husband and I converted it into a joint dental-medical clinic. Using the Federal tax credits received for having an historical building, we created a beautiful, homey environment complete with wainscoting and quilts. The front desk and waiting area serves both the Family Care and Dental practices. One side of the building houses 5-6 dental rooms, and my side has 5-6 medical exam rooms. My husband and I have private offices in the middle. My husband and I designed the clinic space together. My husband loves drafting space---and we have had experience in designing and re-designed several houses together. Therefore, it was fairly easy for us to just sit down and draft a plan for the hardware store space. We also invited a dental supply company to provide floor plan suggestions. It is also possible to obtain floor plan assistance from some of the medical supply companies too. To obtain equipment, I arranged a turn-key agreement with a medical equipment company who supplied me with the equipment down to the gauze, put the equipment together, and helped put all of the supplies away. There was no extra charge for this service, in fact, they gave me a discount due to quantity of supplies and equipment ordered. Although the building is in my husband's name, I have been renting my space from him ever since graduating. I did have to invest about $25,000 for lease-hold improvements to install cabinets at $12,000 and then another $12,000 for supplies and equipment.

Patients per day: I see about 20 patients per day.

Fees and Charges: Last year I charged out $292,000 and collected in $215,000. I know some NPs who own their own practice that have even more astounding figures - along the range of $30,000-$40,000 per month. The hospital is somewhat slow in raising fees. Keeping your fees in line with RBRVS is important.

Other Charges and Services: For services to the detention center, I simply tell the county what the charge is for those visits and they reimburse me 100% reimbursement. It is a standard fee-for-service that I charge monthly based on the time I spent at the jail.
My salary, my staff, my rent, software and supplies are supported under a contract with the Southeast Georgia Regional Medical Center.