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Las Vegas,#2Consumer Comment
Tue, June 09, 2009
As the spouse of a Family Practice physician, I am always dismayed to hear another story of physicians getting taken advantage of in business. I ran my wife's practice for six year as it grew from solo practitioner to a group of six providers. Money was always tight. Most people significantly over-estimate the profitability of practicing good medicine. Coupled with decreased, slow and no reimbursement and the overall economics of health care, this misperception leaves physicians searching for revenue streams to subsidize good care. Unfortunately, many physician forays into business ventures that are suppose to generate revenue result in the physician losing money. In the last year of my wife's independent practice, I became an AmeriSciences distributor and we began to retail the product in the office. I do not consider AmeriSciences a rip-off or a scam, but I would suggest that physicians considering any business venture do their due diligence. After my experience with AmeriSciences in my wife's office, I would offer the following suggestions to physicians: 1. Do not invest more than you can afford to lose. While the allure of the second and third earning engines make investing at the higher levels an attractive proposition, until you know your patient's interest and ability to support AmeriSciences in your office, you are taking a great risk for an unknownand perhaps unrealisticreward. 2. Do not sample staff on the products to build support. We did sample staff. They loved the products, but told patients they were too expensive. After three months, I quit sampling the staff and offered them the products at my cost. There was zero impact on the sales in our office. 3. Do include a trial period of offering AmeriSciences in your office as part of your due diligence to help determine an appropriate investment level. You may not make money during this period, but you could save yourself the heartache that the Ohio physicians experienced. I empathize with all physicians, but especially those in solo to mid-sized group practice who are trying to generate revenue to stay independent. I do think there are unethical people in any business who will promise whatever it takes to make a sale without regard to the personal suffering that results. We chose to implement AmeriSciences hoping that it could both help patients and generate a revenue stream to stay independent. Other offices have had success with retail supplements. I think the key is to gather as much information as possible and make an informed decision.