WEEK 9: I am a little behind
Gianna F -
Well, hello again, and welcome to week 9. With deadlines approaching, I have unfortunately been stumbling and tumbling over a lack of communication. I had one interview this week which was not my goal. I had to reschedule two due to unfortunate miscommunication, but this is better than a cancellation. Lastly, I had one contact I thought I was sure to get an interview with, but they never responded. However, I have plenty more contacts under my belt and a few more weeks left to utilize.
Outside all the pessimistic comments, I am honestly enjoying these opportunities to talk to community members. Something unexpected I have taken away from my interviews is the Power of a Community. Prescott is truly special in this way, especially when we look at medical administrators. While arguably the demand is high and referrals exist, every admin I spoke to said, “They rely on word of mouth for advertising” and “There is zero competition regarding the monopolized hospital system.” Donna even said “I am talking to my neighbors, the people I will see at COSTCO” when describing her interactions with patients. Meanwhile, in Phoenix, hospitals are advertising themselves on billboards. Could you imagine what the little medical clinics have to go through?
**Disclaimer: I know medicine is a lot more nuanced with specialties and population size/demographic, but humor me with that generalization.**
I have been working with Prescott’s community throughout high school and I have seen it carry a small business, a practice, and an organization. I hope to highlight this concept in my final presentation when I share our community members’ stories.
Jumping back to my interview of the week, on Thursday, I talked to Zach who is the owner of Prescott Complete Care and a certified PA. He also helps out in the ER when he can. I have known Zach for a while now through my parents and he is such a great person who wanted to provide a place where our community can go for almost any medical need within a reasonable amount of time. His practice is 4 years old so it is still slightly struggling to find its ground, but for the most part, it is succeeding! Zach did have the basic knowledge when it came to billing and working with patients, but not with the admin side. He said that “it has been the biggest learning curve” for him jumping into his practice. However, what is interesting about Zach is he was thinking of taxes before he opened his practice. Zach immediately sought out a CPA to make sure he was setting up his business the right way! This threw a dagger in the data I have collected regarding tax readiness for startups, but I was still glad to hear it! I would recommend listening to this podcast because I think his practice is such a unique idea and it remains pretty general throughout!
Like always, thanks for reading and I will see you next week for our last week together 😢.
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