In the US there are a lot of small medical businesses like dentists and veterinarians that are run and owned by the main practitioner. When you are in veterinary or dentistry school do they have classes on how to set up your practice?
I have a somewhat related job. I manage a lab in a small town. My education did include a very short, very inadquate 1/2 semester on ‘lab management’. Most of what I do I learned in the school of hard knocks. I would imagine that any other health professional, be it animal or human, would have similar if not less formal education in this area. Several of my friends are MDs and I know for a fact that their book learnin’ did not include any classes in ‘how to start your own practice’
Eh… In veterinary school I had a class about Ethics and Jurisprudence and another one about Professional Development and Business Management. They were very basic notes, and while some of it may be of use to someone out in private practice, I think their main point was to give us resources we could use out in practice. They are put out by veterinary associations and give information about how to run an efficient business based on current practices, and even taking into account surrounding businesses (ie, find out if the clinic is under or over-charging, what is done differently, what services are provided, etc.).
I’m sure medical associations have similar resources.
Also, while they may not say it up front, many clinics hire someone specifically to manage the business side (human resources, hiring, paying bills and salaries, PR, etc).
Oh, and I don’t know about MDs, but I damn well know that in my board examinations, I had to answer questions related to business management. To which I went “WTF”, answered however I could, and hoped that would be one of the “questions that do not count”.