Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/948573
24 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT tions of practice. It's the same dilemma of college recruiters for ath- letes; someone might look good on paper or in the gym, and they'll ex- cel at times, but they'll also flop. You have to use your gut instinct and figure out from the mentor who trained them whether they subscribe to the philosophy we are looking for. en you have to put together the attractive recruitment package. Q: What are your goals for TBI in 2018 and beyond? IL: This is a regrouping and restructuring year; it will be a heavy recruiting year. We want to attract a number of front line spine practitioners. By 2019, we want to be in full swing, really start rolling, and hopefully our year-end numbers will reflect the fact that we have become more efficient and our patient outcomes have been optimized. We want to see the fellowship program real- ly thriving and make sure academic productivity is maintained or better than it is now. In 2020 we will begin a second hiring phase to complete two-year incremental growth. Then in 2021 we will see the maturation of our recruiting efforts. That's how I see TBI growing, maintaining and sustaining. We are going to need some more help with the gait and biomechan- ics lab as well — we're looking for two researchers. We will also try to move some of our in-house billing and perhaps even create an in- house legal team. ere are advantages and disadvantages to each; we have become a corporate entity with a small group philosophy, but it's clear that if we do want to bring overhead under control, we have to limit external expenses so we may look at bringing some of the non- clinical administrative components in-house. We have a strong established marketing department and we will con- tinue to support their work. ey are in-house and that's the model we will look at for our other departments. I figure if we are contracting with someone else, they are making money off of us; why don't we do it ourselves? If we sent our marketing efforts out, our marketing bud- get would be double than what it is in-house. I am looking forward to all these new exciting changes over the next few years. As spine care practitioners, we are in a privileged position; there are so many tools at our disposal, but there is also much more we can learn and develop. We have many patients that need our help and the opportunity to care for them. It's an exciting time, and despite the nay-sayers I'm bullish on where we are going. I'm not intimidated by negativity or competition; we're going to establish our plan and execute strategically to achieve our five and 10-year objectives. n Call Zavation at 601.919.1119 for more information on our products. www.zavation.com ZVplasty System Zavation Cervical Plate Z-Link Cervical For more information on specific Zavation systems, please see package inserts at http://zavation.com/general-information/ VCF-1015.P1A ©2018 Zavation Medical Products, LLC. 220 Lakeland Pkwy Flowood, MS 39232 601.919.1119