LETTER OF THE LAW

From Associate to Partner: Keep Your Goals on Track

Make sure you're doing all you can to convince practice owners that you're ready to partner with them.

By Joseph W. Gallagher, Esq., LL.M., and Mark E. Kropiewnicki, Esq., LL.M.

Before you joined your group as an associate, you probably had at least a general discussion with the owners about the possibility of becoming a partner in the practice. In fact, you may have negotiated a co-ownership option that was written into your initial employment contract. Often, such an "agreement to agree" comes with financial conditions — a revenue goal, for example — as well as certain objective criteria, such as board certification or fellowship status.

In addition to tangible goals, however, you may be expected to "pass" additional tests that typically are unwritten and not discussed. In this article, we discuss some of the intangible characteristics that may come into play as your potential partners assessyour eligibility for future co-ownership. First, let's discuss what becoming a partner entails.

Partnership Obligations

Being a co-owner means "making rain" for the practice by cultivating new referral sources and thereby creating new business. It also means taking responsibility for the financial and operational management and the health of the practice in good times and in bad.

Partners must work harder than the average associate, particularly when the practice encounters adversity. For example, partners agree to bear the cost of buying each other out if there's a change in the practice. This often necessitates holding the practice together while one ophthalmologist leaves and another comes on board.

Partners must take on entrepreneurial risk. Their personal finances are often tied up in the practice. It's the partners who must be prepared to bear the burden of the practice expenses for expansion, investment and the like.

Partnership status implies a long-term association with your colleagues. The buy/sell arrangements, restrictive covenants and other clauses formalized in co-owner agreements reflect this understanding of long-term commitment. If these commitments are abrogated, the professional and economic penalties may be significant. The invitation for partnership offers a significant opportunity to the individual ophthalmologist and, therefore, commensurate commitment and loyalty is expected.

If you're sincerely interested in becoming a partner, then you must act like a partner and be willing to go the extra mile. This includes after-hours work to market the practice or other endeavors that promote the practice. The role of being a partner requires moving from a "job" mentality (doing only what the contract says) to a "career pathway" mentality (how do we do better together). This is a major and necessary mental shift.

Assuming a Partner Mentality

The old thinking that a practice would bestow co-ownership on an associate simply because he or she survived a probationary period without doing anything wrong enough to warrant getting fired no longer applies.

Being offered a co-ownership interest in a practice is your reward for contributing to the overall health of the practice. Beyond clinical competence, co-ownership criteria often include the following, at a minimum:

■ Commitment of your time and energy toward practice success

■ Productivity, efficiency and focus on the bottom line

■ Demonstrated loyalty to the practice

■ Efforts toward developing new revenue sources or business opportunities for the practice

■ Adherence to practice administrative rules and procedures, for example:

■ Starting and ending office hours on time

■ Seeing the "add-on" patient and staying late when needed

■ Rarely canceling office hours, and doing so only in emergency situations

■ Never missing call coverage

■ Documenting charts and records in a timely fashion

■ Responding to referrer and patient inquiries/complaints diligently and professionally

■ Participating in non-patient care duties, such as patient education, professional society activities, community functions

■ Maintaining a good relationship with your hospitals, including hospital committee participation, peer review participation, medical staff participation, hospital medical record maintenance

■ Accepting practice burdens and responsibilities

■ Taking an entrepreneurial interest in the practice;

■ Positive work ethic

■ Demonstrated ability to work well with the other practice physicians, nonphysician staff members and referral sources.

Reap the Rewards

An invitation to partnership is the reward for taking on entrepreneurial interests and risks associated with being an owner in the practice.

If you prepare yourself, demonstrate excellent clinical performance and consistently contribute beyond the norm, you should be able to secure an invitation to become a partner. nMD