How to Develop a Business Plan for an Academic Health Center
If you're charged with responsibility for developing a business plan for an academic health center, you will need to draw on your best organizational skills. AHCs are complex webs of universities, hospitals, clinical practices and research facilities, each of which requires in-depth consideration if the business plan is to work for all concerned. Sound daunting? Not if you do your homework. Every day, people just like you tackle the research and writing required to provide direction to the institutions and people comprising an AHC. Think strategically. Ask for help. Start by perusing the information in this article.
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Instructions
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1
Apply due diligence to your search for a good model on which to develop your business plan. Consult astute planners who have already been down this road with their own AHC business plan challenge. Or find a comprehensive book to help guide you during the process (see link below).
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2
Draft a four-section outline to cover these general segments of the plan's structure: 1) a description of the organization's business base, 2) marketing strategies that benefit individual institutions falling within the AHC family, 3) management strategies and hierarchies that cover every-level of personnel from academician to research aide and 4) a comprehensive financial section.
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3
Use research you have gathered to synthesize facts, figures and support material into the framework of the first half of your business plan (#1, #2 and #3 above). Arrange materials in the following order: Cover sheet, statement of purpose and table of contents followed by a section that outlines how the AHC sees itself as a business. Include a description of all facilities within the complex, marketing opportunities, competitive analysis, operating procedures, personnel needs guidelines, and business insurance.
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4
Pack the second half of your business plan (#4 per step 2) with data that shows the extent to which financial bases will all be covered in the years ahead. Include loan applications, capital equipment lists, profit-and-loss statements, cash-flow charts, a five-year summary of previous financial landmarks as well as by-month breakdowns showing where funds are being allocated. Include copies of anything relevant to the past, present and future financial state of the AHC.
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5
Back up your business plan with legal documents that fully disclose the net worth of all of the health center's principles, including at least three years' worth of personal and/or business tax returns, financial statements, franchise contracts, mortgage or leasing agreements, curriculum vitae and, in some cases, permits and licenses as they relate to the AHC's disclosure policies.
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6
Hire a consultant to vet your business plan before submission so you get feedback from someone with no biases, preconceived notions or conflicts of interest. Evaluate those comments, make changes and then turn the work over to a professional editor to check for grammar and clarity of content.
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