Top 10 Reasons You Need Rehab Center Consultants
There are many advantages of having a knowledgeable and experienced rehab consultant on your team to assist you and your in-house staff. Whether you are a startup addiction treatment program or have years of practice within the addiction treatment space, your business can benefit from having a strong working relationship with a consultant familiar with the rehab industry.
Rehab owners, support staff, clinicians, managers, and directors all have a lot of changes that they have to keep up with – including emerging treatment practices, changes with insurance and medical billing, and simply providing care to patients. Adding additional marketing and technical responsibilities and tasks to these staff members is not always an effective solution, and in many cases can lead to a more chaotic work environment.
A rehab consultant can help to take some of the burdens off your in-house staff, offer options for outsourced solutions, and generally help your business to be more productive and streamlined. Below, we have outlined some of the most important ways that a rehab consultant can help you and your treatment business.
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Rehab PPC Ad Management and Managing the Relationship between the Rehab and Google can get complicated
In the current state of online search, this is probably one of the most important reasons rehab owners should be working with a consultant. In late 2017, Google announced that – due to many abuses and concerns – businesses in the rehab and addiction treatment industries would no longer be able to bid on certain keywords for pay-per-click advertising (PPC). These certain keywords quickly snowballed into nearly all actionable keywords for addiction treatment to no longer be available for bidding.
Now, over six months later, Google has outlined their plans for a program to allow rehab centers to once again be able to run PPC campaigns for addiction treatment related keywords and queries. This is very good news for the many facilities that lost revenue due to lack of PPC exposure, but the new process that rehabs need to go through in order to be certified is tedious and can be quite intimidating. The Google certification process for rehabs will be a make-or-break concern for marketing efforts, so it is very important for rehab businesses to get this right. Having a consultant who is experienced and familiar with managing the relationship between rehabs and Google will be essential in this certification process.
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Rehab Center Staffing Needs
Staffing concerns and issues are common in every industry, and with the addiction treatment industry it is imperative that the right staff is representing your company, your philosophy, and your goals for client care. Consultants know where to go to find qualified medical professionals and can help you in your search for the right fit for your needs. From clinical care and executive level rehab professionals to operations managers and on-ground marketing representatives, consultants take much of the burden off of owners and investors.
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Experienced Rehab Marketing Expertise and Keeping Up with Changes to Addiction Treatment Marketing Needs &Practices
Rehabs need marketing in order to keep their beds filled. Even with a strong referral system in place, it is important for a rehab to keep a continuous stream of new applicants at all times. Marketing requires the expertise of professionals who have devoted their careers to understanding the changing landscape of marketing.
In this day and age, online marketing standards and practices change daily, and technology evolves at such a fast pace that it is difficult for many to keep up. Rehabs need a full marketing solution and team to be able to compete with other rehabs that have full marketing solutions, teams, and often very high marketing budgets. The reality of the situation is that if your business wants to have a chance of competing in the market, it will need to match or exceed the marketing efforts of your top competitors. -
Consultation on Setting Up a New Rehab Business
The rehab industry is rapidly growing in response to the growing number of cases of addiction in the United States. The demand for quality addiction care is higher than it has ever been in the history of modern medicine and the supply of care is much lower. This is why starting a rehab business now is a great opportunity, and can be a lucrative endeavor for you and your investors.
However, to ensure that the investment of time and money into starting your rehab business pays off, you need to make sure that you are setting up that business for success. As with any small business, it is important to have a consultant who is knowledgeable in the business space helping you with the startup phase. Having a consultant who has successfully set up other new rehab businesses increases the chances that your startup will be a successful one.
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Addiction Treatment Billing Practices: In House Billing Vs. Outsourced Rehab Billing
As is the case in many other medical practices, billing is about 80% of the treatment process. Insurance billing is notoriously tedious, and billing issues can quickly lead to a lapse in revenue and available money for the business. HIPAA laws, patient confidentiality, and are just a few of the concerns that must be addressed with addiction treatment billing. A consultant can help you to keep your billing process streamlined and offer options for in-house billing practices or outsourced and managed billing solutions.
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Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Software, Management, and EMR Consulting
Did you know there are over 700 EMR platforms for managing medical records in a business? There are over 100 different EMR platforms and software solutions built specifically for addiction treatment alone. How do you weigh the options and select the platform that best fits your business’ needs? A consultant will present to you all available options for software and EMR solutions, and work closely with you to ensure that you choose the solution that works best for you.
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Help and Consultation for Buying or Investing In an Existing Rehab Business
We have already established that the addiction treatment industry is a fast-growing industry and can be opportune for those looking to start a facility. What about buying a rehab facility, taking over an existing program, or investing into an existing treatment center? When buying and existing rehab, you will have to review many aspects of the existing program…
Does the program have a steady revenue source, or is it on the verge of becoming insolvent?
Does the existing business have reputation management issues or pending lawsuits?
Can a Return On Investment (ROI) be calculated before the purchase?
Are you buying a “lemon” of a business, or getting yourself in “over your head?”
It would be foolish to buy a rehab or invest in one without knowing the answers to these and many other questions. A consultant asks these questions and gets a prospectus together of what the risks and benefits of a purchase might be, and will present to you a clear picture of what you are getting into.
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Assistance with Addiction Treatment Facility Zoning and Rehab Licensing
This has been a big issue for rehabs in recent years. While the sheer number of those that are addicted and in-need of treatment is growing exponentially, not everyone in the United States wants to have patients being treated for drug and alcohol addiction in their neighborhoods. This has led to many zoning battles and even entire cities or municipalities banning certain types of treatment within their boundaries.
Before you plan to start a rehab in a neighborhood, city, county, or state, it is imperative that you review zoning and any other laws that are in-place regarding your type of business. A rehab consultant will help you navigate these sometimes tumultuous waters.
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Managing Medical Business Practices, Procedures, Internal Processes, and Accreditations
The key to a successful business is to have a business that is set up for success. Broken processes and procedures within the day-to-day operations can sink your business faster than any other problems. Consultants review all of your internal processes, identify risks and streamline the effectiveness of all procedures to ensure that your business runs effectively.
At the end of the day, your business needs to make the maximum amount of revenue for the least possible spend. This means cutting waste and making sure that every aspect of your services are both valuable and profitable.
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Help Selling A Addiction Treatment Business, Rehab Facility and Rehab Real Estate
Had enough of the rehab business and you are looking to get out? Once again, we have to admit that the rehab industry – though it takes a lot of hard work and care – can be a lucrative opportunity. When it comes time to sell your business, you will need to find a prospective buyer that serious in their intentions to purchase. Too much time can be wasted on “tire-kickers” that are only looking to “feel out” the purchase.
All too often rehabs fall into financial problems or have to close for good when pending sales fall-through. We cannot stress enough the importance of having a consultant throughout the sale process. A consultant can help you to get a fair prices for your sale, and – even more important – ensure that the business remains successful and holds its value through the close of the sales.
Have an issue or concern about your rehab business that we didn’t cover on our list? Contact us today to speak with a consultant. We can offer our advice and expertise and begin an owner-consultant relationship that will maximize the potential of your addiction treatment business.
