What Is A Medical Coworking Space?

You’ve probably heard about the idea of a coworking space.

It’s a great way for entrepreneurs and startups to get an office space for a relatively low price compared with buying and setting up your own office.

They’re quite popular among tech entrepreneurs, law firms, solo consultants, and others who want the freedom of an office space without the hassle of all the overhead.

What you might not have known, however, is that medical coworking spaces are also a thing.

Also known as medical time shares and flexible medical offices, medical coworking spaces are rapidly gaining in popularity.

We’re Symbiosis, a practice management solutions firm offering medical coworking spaces in Washington DC and in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, and if you’re wondering how you can leave the confines of your high stress corporate medical or healthcare position, we can help.

A medical coworking space is the easy way to start your practice.

Combine that with our many other services, like digital marketing solutions for private practices, healthcare insurance billing solutions, and more, and private practice ownership becomes easier than ever.

Read on to find out about medical coworking spaces – what they are, how they work, and how Symbiosis can help you build your own practice.

What Is A Medical Coworking Space?

A coworking space is an office arrangement where you have a space along with other small businesses and entrepreneurs.

You share space, as well as resources, which gives you the benefit of having an office without all the drawbacks of having to run it yourself.

While it’s most commonly associated with millennials and tech start ups, all sorts of businesses and professionals can make use of a coworking space.

These include lawyers, consultants, accountants, bookkeepers, trades people, writers, architects, financial planners, and many more.

They’re getting more and more popular because of the many benefits of a medical coworking space.

It’s easier to set up your own practice using a medical coworking space, which has been linked to greater career satisfaction than employed doctors.

The important thing to remember, though, is that while there may be dozens of businesses connected with a coworking space, each is still its own entity.

The fact that coworking space members share a mailing address, a kitchen, and a client meeting room doesn’t matter – they’re still independent of each other.

So long as you pay your membership fees and don’t leave your dirty dishes in the sink, you’re free to operate your business as you please.

A medical coworking space is the same idea, with the only caveat being that it’s limited to private healthcare practices.

As a healthcare provider in a medical coworking space, you share clinic space, medical equipment, a reception area, IT services, and other expenses, but you still remain an independent practitioner.

Benefits Of Medical Coworking Space

If you’re like most healthcare providers thinking of starting their own private practice, your only idea of how to do so is through building your own clinic.

This is, of course, an option, but more and more providers are looking at starting their private practice through a medical coworking space.

The reason is that there are a number of benefits to medical coworking spaces.

Let’s take a look at them now.

1. They’re A Lease-Free Arrangement

If you want to build your own clinic, you need a space to build it in.

And unless you happen to also be a real estate mogul, chances are you’ll have to sign a commercial lease in order to get access to a space for long enough to build your clinic.

These leases can be incredibly costly, since not only does the rent in nicer neighborhoods tend to be high, most commercial landlords will want you to lease the space for at least a few years, sometimes up to ten or more.

Add on the fees for a commercial real estate agent, and you’re looking at a hefty chunk of change.

It can be very difficult to choose your clinic location, and how many opportunities for making very costly mistakes there are in this process.

With a medical coworking space, they’re usually lease free.

With Symbiosis, for example, we offer space licensing for as short as 6 months, leaving you on the hook for a lot less if things happen to change.

That might sound like the same as subleasing space, but it’s different.

This is because with a sublease you still have all the same obligations and liabilities as the person on the lease.

Meanwhile, with a space license, it’s a contract that gives you the right to use a space for a specific purpose, which doesn’t hold you to the same obligations and liabilities that a lease or sublease would.

2. They Save You Time

Many healthcare providers end up spending a significant portion of their time on administrative tasks.

Things like booking appointments, following up with cancellations, data entry, responding to emails, dealing with insurance companies – the list goes on and on.

With a medical coworking space, you get access to competent front desk staff that will take care of all of this for you.

Rather than spending up to a third or more of your time with admin tasks, you can cut it down to nearly nothing.

This will help you make the most of your time working, and create a better work life balance as a healthcare provider.

3. They Lower Costs

We already talked before about how cost prohibitive commercial leases can be.

However, there are many hidden costs associated with opening your own clinic that cover much more than just leasing a space.

Once you actually lease your space, you’ll have to renovate it.

You might need certain equipment depending on the type of practice you run.

You’ll need to hire a front desk person and admin worker.

You’ll need a cleaning company to clean.

There’s also:

• Internet bills
• Electrical bills
• Point of sale system bills

The list goes on and on.

Even the most comprehensive revenue cycle management systems require you to spend time navigating it.

With a medical coworking space, you can toss all that aside.

Your monthly dues will cover all of the above, and much more.

You will also benefit from the experience of the team running the medical coworking space.

This will help you to avoid many common mistakes when you’re starting your private practice.

4. They’re More Flexible

With a traditional lease, you’re restricted by the size of your space.

It’s as big as it’s ever going to get, and the only way you can grow is by leasing the space next door or moving into a larger facility.

And at the same time, you’re likely to end up with more space than you need in the beginning, until your practice grows into it.

With a medical coworking space, your membership can grow with you.

With Symbiosis, you can increase the amount of time you have for your clinic, so as your patient roster grows so can you.

And, if you’re looking to wind down your practice and get ready to retire, you can decrease your membership as you need.

Contact Symbiosis To Start Your Own Private Practice Today

There are many reasons to consider a medical coworking space that we haven’t touched on here yet.

If you want to know more, check out these top benefits of starting your private practice in a medical coworking space.

Are you ready to start your own private practice, and looking for options other than the traditional clinic model?

Tired of your corporate health care job, and want to start out on your own?

Contact Symbiosis today.

Contact Symbiosis, and take your first step toward starting your own private practice today.