20th Nov 2007
Leaving an Associate Position
I talked with a DC yesterday who was let go from his associate position. Like any other job, it can come to an end that quickly. He is working on options, one of which would be to go into business for himself but very cheaply, by providing services to people from their homes. Here are some considerations we discussed:
1. He’ll have to get his own provider status with Medicare (855I as a sole proprietor).
2. He will have to take cash or checks, since it’s difficult to carry around a POS (point of sale) machine to run credit and debit cards. I suggested he get an invoice form from a local office supply store (duplicate), so he could keep track of patient receipts and bills.
3. He will have to check with the city to see if he needs a business license. We talked about his ability to work from his home, but he is in a development with protective covenants and they probably won’t let him. He also would have to get a zoning variance to work from home. I’ll talk more about this later, if you’re interested.
4. He needs to keep track of his mileage, since he’s using his car primarily to see patients. He should keep a notebook in his car and note mileage at the beginning and the end of each day. If he wants to be really exact, he could subtract personal miles, but I wouldn’t worry too much about this.
5. He’s going to get a portable table to take with him.
6. He needs to keep track of all expenses for his startup, so he can use these to file his taxes.
What else does he need? What would you do if you were in this situation? (By the way, he doesn’t have a non-compete to deal with, so he can go anywhere.)
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