In the healthcare world, there are several things that are a cost to clinics. This can include;
- Rent on premises
- Staff wages
- Insurance and other bills/costs
- Consumables i.e. tape, oils
- Essential Equipment i.e. massage couches, therapist seats
- Capital Equipment
Some of these expenditures come with the territory of running a business and are unavoidable. Some are a real drain on the bank account, and some of these expenditures can actually generate you more income – can you guess which ones?
Income vs. expenditure is always stress and a struggle and certain things like your consumable spend can go unnoticed and develop into quite an expenditure without you realising. Many of the items you buy don’t make you money and we often get complacent with where we are buying these products from – are we really getting the best deal? Do we really need that lotion/taping brand etc?
Despite this, many clinics seem to “shrug the shoulders,” accept that you have these expenditures, and continue to spend hundreds, if not, thousands of pounds a month on products they may not need or could find cheaper elsewhere.
But when it comes to something that can genuinely generate a new revenue stream, such as a new capital piece of equipment, or a new member of staff, there seems to be a huge hesitation and reluctance to commit.
Is this because of your other expenditures, such as your consumable spend, restricting your profit margin, thus preventing you from making investments in your business??
In this Physichat, Dominic Smith speaks Alex Nesbitt, Sales Manager from Physio Supplies, and Andy Hosgood, owner of Summit Physiotherapy and Elevate your Practice to discuss the relationship between consumable spend and capital expenditure.
