You can’t imagine how honoured I was to be asked to write my next book especially for Australian doctors, and after much hard work and research, I am so excited to finally be holding in my hands ‘hot off the printing press’ copies of “Your Practice Succession …. How to Leave a Legacy and Reap the Rewards of a Lifetime of Service to Your Community”.

Your Practice Succession By Leigh Riley

This book has been specifically written for Australian medical General Practitioners (GPs) and covers situations and cases unique to them affecting their succession and exit planning.

Australian GPs provide an extremely important role in maintaining public health to Australian communities.  The continuity of their services is essential to the wellbeing of all of us which is why my passion has been further fueled to assist this essential sector by writing this book.

Of the nearly 60,000 Australian GPs, their average age is 50 years, and many of them are looking at retiring in the next 10 years.  Without a strategy to exit their practice with a continuity program, it could be that community shortages for their valuable services may be inevitable.  It’s in all of our interests to see GPs manage this process effectively.

Topics that are covered in the book

The book:  “Your Practice Succession” is a detailed look at how to prepare a medical practice so that continuity of service can be achieved whilst also enabling GPs to:

• ensure the quality of lifestyle they worked so hard to achieve
• maximise their practice valuation and sale price
• find the right successor
• pre-arrange the sale terms to lock in the arrangements and practice valuation
• safeguard the practice legacy they will leave
• remain in a position of power and security at each phase of the business cycle in their practice
• be released from debt commitments and exit from their practice with financial freedom
• maximise their cashflow
• maximise their practice profits
• exit from their practice with ease.

Find out more

1. If you would like to purchase the book, you can do that here.
2. If you would like a sneak preview of the book, you can download your FREE chapters here.
3. You can also read book reviews here

I’m so proud to have been part of this project, and it doesn’t stop here. I’m on a mission to ensure succession planning becomes a smooth transition for as many business owners that my work can touch.

Here’s to your Profitable Exit Strategy!

Leigh Riley

The cost of failing to identify the economic factors that affect your practice:

Your practice valuation may change in line with economic trends, the needs of the community that you service, and the general perception of the value of your service to its community.

Staying abreast of market and patient demand can allow you to update your practice model, and taking those changes into account will be every bit as important as re-evaluating your practice value when seeking a buyer for your practice succession.

Practices operating in country and outback areas may have fewer potential succession options and eventual buyers, because many younger or up and coming GPs are reluctant to set themselves up for what they believe will be a life of isolation and a lack of social facilities frequently experienced in country areas. This results in multiple forms of loss – to the medical practitioner who is keen to sell the practice for a a fair profit, and to the communities of our nation’s country areas, due to the loss of essential medical services. With continued rising costs to the health system, the supply of doctors in remote regions slowly shrinks.

There are however win-win solutions that could help to turn around this dilemma…

CASE STUDY #2  – Practice succession strategy for a country GP

Dr Richard, a GP in a small country community, implemented a well constructed succession plan to overcome the difficulties he faced in selling a remotely located general practice. Here are the main features of his continuity strategy:

1. Dr Richard sponsored Ian, a talented student from his community, through medical school.
2. Ian, having strong family ties to the local area, was more likely than most to want to return to the region if he could be assured of career prospects there.
3. Dr Richard seized the opportunity to build his succession plan, and secured an agreement with Ian to join his practice as soon as Ian was fully qualified.
4. Both parties benefited from the agreement, with Ian receiving substantial financial support during his studies at medical school, and with Dr Richard gaining the assistance and continuity which he required, via a legal commitment from Ian to work in the practice.

There is nothing to prevent GPs in any location from developing a similar strategy to assure a potential candidate for their practice. Many Medical students will graduate with significant HECS debts, so may be attracted to the possibility of commencing their career with a clean financial slate, by accepting a similar arrangement as offered by Dr Richard to Ian.

Government incentives that may assist your practice succession

The Australian Government has instituted a scholarship program for medical students with the specific purpose of encouraging more GPs to practice in regional areas.

The Bonded Medical Places (BMP) Scheme allows up to 600 students to receive HECS reimbursements, in exchange for a commitment to work in districts where there are shortages of general practitioners. They must do so for a minimum of six years after gaining the general practitioner fellowship.

In addition, the Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship (MRBS) enables up to 100 students who are prepared to commit themselves to working in rural locations for a minimum of six consecutive years, after completing fellowship studies as general practitioners, to receive (from 2010) $24,207 per annum, tax-free, and indexed annually, while they study.

You can read more about the details of these scholarships my latest book, “Your Practice Succession: How to Leave a Legacy and Reap the Rewards of a Lifetime of Service to Your Community”

How prepared are you to exit your practice with maximum cash flow and profits?

Take the FREE quiz and find out!

To Your Profitable Practice Exit,
Leigh Riley

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