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Ideas for Extra Income While You’re Building Your New Private Practice

  • Jan 29
  • 8 min read

Building a medical practice takes time and a comprehensive strategy. Even with a strong clinical reputation and solid referral pipeline, most doctors experience a ramp-up period and often patient volume–and thus income–can lag behind fixed expenses, both on the practice and personal sides. During this ramp-up period, we often get questions from new practice owners in our online physician community looking for ideas on how to boost cash flow. There are several options, many of which are flexible, complement clinical work, and/or can help expand your patient base. Below, we share popular ideas for adding revenue while you’re building up your private practice.


Disclosure/Disclaimer: Our content is for generalized educational purposes.  While we try to ensure it is accurate and updated, we cannot guarantee it. We are not formal financial, legal, or tax professionals and do not provide individualized advice specific to your situation. You should consult these as appropriate and/or do your own due diligence before making decisions based on this page. To learn more, visit our disclaimers and disclosures.


8 ideas for adding additional revenue while building your private medical practice


Ideas for extra income or practice revenue while building a medical practice


While these are popular options in our community to help you get started, don’t feel confined to these suggestions. If you have an idea for an additional revenue stream for your practice or extra income while you're building your new practice, it can be worth exploring. If you want specific insights into your unique situation, reach out to the hive mind of 200,000+ other doctors in our online physician community.



Offer on call services to hospitals (and explore other moonlighting or part time opportunities)


Taking on hospital call shifts and other moonlighting opportunities (urgent care, etc.) outside of your regular clinical hours is one of the most straightforward and reliable ways to generate revenue. Pay is often in line with clinical work, which can be higher than many other options, providing financial stability during periods of lower patient volume. This work can often be scheduled in blocks that fit around your current clinical schedule, and can be a great temporary option as you grow.


As an added perk, certain work environments, like working with the VA for a certain number of days a week, can not only provide steady income, but provide benefits for certain specialties. If you’re still at a point where you could see your patient volume in 3 full clinic days, for example, it might be worth taking on 1-2 days a week at a part time opportunity. This could help you gain access to health insurance, retirement accounts, and other benefits employed physicians get, until you’re fully ready to be out on your own.



Complete paid medical surveys during clinic downtime


Paid medical surveys are one of the most flexible additional income streams available to doctors. This is a low effort and low commitment way to generate income without adding any additional clinical overhead or administrative burden. Surveys can be completed on your own schedule, often during short breaks in the day. Some companies offer microsurveys which can be completed in just 5-10 minutes. While surveys likely won’t amass to a reliable, steady (or even large) income stream, they can provide additional cash flow without disrupting your day or requiring a large upfront investment. Some of our physician members who do these regularly report making $10,000+ a year.


Related PSG resources:



Provide consulting services for pharma & medical device companies


Consulting is one of the most popular additional income options for doctors in our online physician communities. Consulting work is often done on an hourly or per project basis, with competitive rates. These opportunities typically don’t require additional skillsets outside of your medical expertise and typically don't require an ongoing commitment. Many opportunities can be performed virtually and scheduling can be flexible around your clinical schedule. Not only can this add additional revenue to your bottom line without any startup expenses or costs, but can provide doctors with the opportunity to help influence the future of healthcare.


Related PSG resources:



Perform compensation & benefits exams for veterans


The Department of Veteran Affairs has an ongoing need for physicians in private practice across the country to help see veterans for compensation & benefit (C&P) exams, which can provide a steady income stream. This work is not a treatment relationship. It focuses on standardized evaluations of chronic issues, rather than acute problems or diagnostic workups of new problems. While physicians do need insurance coverage for these exams, the liability is much lower than seeing regular patients in your normal clinical day. This can help boost revenue with low liability risk. Working with a company who helps coordinate and schedule these exams can provide a daily rate for increased reliability of revenue, even in the case of no shows. And these opportunities allow you to support our country’s service men and women without requiring any military experience as an added bonus.


These exams may not offer the best compensation rate, especially for higher paying specialties, as rates are fixed and uniform, not dependent on location or specialty. They can, however, be a great opportunity for a new practice looking to fill in empty schedule time, especially for primary care physicians who are used to evaluating these issues.


Related PSG resources:



Offer other disability, eligibility, and med-legal examinations, such as worker’s comp exams or Independent Medical Examinations (IMEs)


These exams can be lucrative, especially in states or localities with high demand. While like C&P exams, these are non-treatment examinations that don’t offer ongoing assessments or care, they provide an opportunity to engage with new potential future patients to help build your long-term patient roster. You may be able to develop relationships with companies, attorneys, and employers as well for potential referral pipelines. You can work with companies who help facilitate scheduling exams to fit the exams around your existing patient schedule.


A special note for physicians in California: If you’re interested in performing worker’s compensation evaluations, you must be certified as a Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME) in order to get cases. This includes taking the QME Competency Exam that’s only offered twice a year in April and October (with registration deadlines earlier than the exam).


Related PSG resources:



Add a telemedicine option to your practice


If you’ve been focused on building out a patient base in your local area, consider adding telemedicine services to help expand your patient population and practice’s reach. As an added bonus from a job satisfaction standpoint, this can help you provide much needed services to underserved populations.  


Physicians can create their own telemedicine platform or work with an existing third-party company. Telemedicine provides flexibility and scalability as you look to grow, filling in schedule gaps and potentially providing introductions to new, long-term patients.


As such, it can be a great additional revenue stream both as a short-term solution and a long-term growth strategy for your practice.


Related PSG resources:



Establish a clinical research site at your practice


This potential revenue stream requires more of an upfront commitment in expenses and time, but can lead to significant revenue through clinical trials. Several factors influence potential revenue, such as your specialty, the study phase & complexity, and the sponsor type & funding source, but revenue can often be in the $5,000 - $15,000 range per patient enrolled in a study. Working with a site management organization (SMO) can help reduce the setup costs, can help you find potential studies, and can reduce the staffing and administrative burden. Clinical research trials can also potentially bring in new patients into your practice.


Along with logistical requirements for set up (such as proper storage for trial drugs, technology for streamlined processes, etc.), having recent (in the past five years) investigator experience as a PI or sub-I is typically preferred and can help you get a research site up and running at your practice.


Related PSG resources:



Rent out unused practice space for additional income


If you purchased or leased space with the intention of growing your practice, you may have space now that’s going unused but has fixed overhead expenses. Renting unused exam rooms or other space out to another physician or practice can bring in reliable, steady income each month to help cover overhead expenses.


As an added bonus, if you bring in a practice with another specialty focus, you may be able to build a patient referral network with that practice to help grow your patient roster.


Related PSG resources:



Conclusion


Building a medical practice is a long-term investment, but strategic additional revenue streams can help stabilize cash flow and accelerate practice growth. While the ideas above all are popular within our online physician community, the best options for you and your practice are the ones that align with your schedule and goals. Whether you choose low-commitment options like medical surveys or consulting for short-term cash infusions, or more integrated strategies like telemedicine or clinical research for long-term revenue potential, each can provide additional income.



Related resources for physicians in private practice


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