If you are considering retiring from medicine, you may have also thought about selling your private practice to someone in your field of expertise.
It’s fair to say there are some major considerations and challenges in finding the right person to buy an existing practice but with diligence and a willingness to compromise, you could really reap the rewards of passing on your business to a capable successor.
Let’s take this point by point and use this as a guide only. Save for future reference.
Advanced planning.
Speak to your Legal team and Accountant as your very first steps.
Explain your wishes and outline a desired timeline. Your Accountant can help line up a valuation, and both can also help to highlight any legal implications in selling before you approach anyone or fully start the sales process.
Get an independent valuation of your practice.
An independent valuation of your practice will consider multiple aspects of your business: Equipment, furniture, location, and reputation of the business along with earning history and liabilities.
The independent valuation is not based on emotion and will give you a clear picture of what your practice is actually worth. Your own Accountant will give you an idea of what to expect so having an independence value should give you confidence in taking the next steps.
The asking price.
Once you have your valuation, be prepared that the price may be less than expected. The business is only worth what anyone will pay for it and the valuation team will have a better understanding of the current market and who is likely to buy or has bought recently in your area of expertise and location.
The buyer.
The reputation of any potential buyer may influence who you finally sell to.
They may have the funds but in selling to them, will your own moral duties be compromised? For example:
Will you build into your specifications, retention of the team you employ? New owners may have a secretarial team or administrational team already working for them. Are your own team likely to lose their jobs as a result of selling?
If you can secure their roles with the new owners for a period of time, the whole process may run more smoothly ensuring less impact to those final handover months.
Informing those that need to be told.
So, you have sold your business to the perfect person and the legal paperwork and agreements have been signed.
Now its time to tell those who it will affect.
Your team and your patients. Keeping your team on board with the time frame of sale and likely changes (redundancies or secured roles) along with a plan to inform the patients, will help you to depart the business with less conflict.
Introduce the new owner to your team and allow for questions to be asked to make that process, less stressful for all concerned. Plan patient correspondence to include the opportunity to meet the new owners.
This will also help to limit impact and reassure your client base that you have confidence in the new owners and their best interest at heart.
Know your data responsibilities.
Whilst all the larger legal transition takes place, as a consultant, you are also required to store your data for several years and the GMC have strict guidelines on how long, based on their requirements and that of HMRC. Go directly to their website for more information and up to date legislation. https://www.gmc-uk.org/professional-standards/professional-standards-for-doctors/confidentiality/managing-and-protecting-personal-information
If you are a MidexPRO User, you have options on storing your data and can read more here.
Similarly, if you use other Private Practice Management systems, your providers should also have export data options for you. Contact them for more information.
Ensure your data responsibilities form part of the overall process to ensure after you retire, your legal obligations to patient data is covered adequately.
Plan to chase down outstanding income owed as part of the sales process, but any outstanding payments will need to be considered too.
Finally, remember to close bank accounts and online profiles with forwarding information should anyone or patient need to contact you.