The Bottom Line Medicine Clinic

The financial experience of an actual medical practice was used to develop a spreadsheet model of the business of medicine. The model is designed to provide reasonably accurate predictions of the financial outcome of business decisions affecting the practice. It has been used very successfully to teach practice management to senior residents in Family Practice training at the University of Minnesota. Students are placed in the role of a managing partner presented with a financially ailing practice, and asked to suggest business decisions which might salvage the situation. The model instantly and convincingly presents the impact of such decisions on the "bottom line". The entertaining and interactive format have made this one of the most popular offerings in our practice management curriculum.