Selling your medical practice to take an employed position

The need to sell a medical practice can arise for various reasons: lifestyle change, retirement, health concerns, or new opportunities. Some private practice physicians discover that academic or employed positions can present them with unique opportunities that are too good to pass up. In such cases where a practice must be sold in order to take a position, timeframe and pricing become crucial to realizing any potential value in the sale of the practice. Under normal circumstances the timeframe to sell a practice can be 9 to 12 months. Add-in other variables such as speciality and geographic location and the timeframe can become even longer. It is imperative that sellers be flexible on selling price and transition assistance, or risk realizing little to no value for their practices. Making such concessions can be difficult especially when a practice has good earnings and might otherwise warrant a premium from buyers under normal market conditions. In conclusion, sellers of private practices must allow enough time and be flexible to ensure that all their objectives are met prior to moving on to the new opportunity.