5 Reasons Why You Should Open A Ketamine Clinic (2022 Update)

Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published on 01-11-2021 and has been updated on 05-08-2022 to reflect the latest research, insights, and best practices in ketamine therapy.

Should You Open a Ketamine Infusion Clinic?

Ketamine infusions are radically changing the lives of those with mood and chronic pain disorders. As more people become aware of this effective and viable treatment, there is an increasing demand for ketamine infusion clinics. We are in the psychedelic renaissance, and currently ketamine is the only legal psychedelic! Couple this demand with the rising burnout in physicians working in the current healthcare system, which leads to more physicians seeking alternative careers! So this begs the question, should YOU start one? Before you dismiss the idea of opening your ketamine clinic as a daydream or jump in head first, let's go over a few reasons why you should start a clinic. If any of these reasons resonate with you, we welcome you to join us in providing ketamine infusions which will transform patients’ lives.

There has been a growing demand for ketamine treatments. Do you want to meet the demand and help people?

Reason #1 You Want to Help People. 

No matter how much frustration and anger you may feel about how the current healthcare system is going, we bet deep down there is some part of you that acknowledges you do want to help people. If you didn’t, well why are you reading this blog post? As someone who currently still wants to help people, you are actually in a unique position! You have the ability and accessibility to a medicine that has been safely used for decades which can provide relief...ketamine! There is a growing demand for this treatment and you can meet that demand. You probably became a doctor to help people, and now you have an effective treatment to do so! 

When we started our ketamine clinic in 2018, both of us were extremely burned out and frustrated by working in the healthcare system. Often we felt that we spent more time charting and navigating the healthcare bureaucracy instead of simply providing evidence based care. We both saw how the lack of addressing chronic pain conditions and mood disorders lead to more emotional and physical pain. We felt called to help beyond our traditional emergency medicine (for Sam) and ophthalmology (for Kim) practice.

Does working at a hospital or traditional medical clinic burn you out?

Reason #2 You Are Tired Of The Current Healthcare System. 

You are clicking buttons, ”moving the meat,” and now you are being told by some bean counter that you need to see more patients per hour. You became a doctor to help people but now you are burnt out by the system. And to add insult to injury, there has also been additional stress of the COVID pandemic to this already faltering system. You want to help your patients, but you’re tired of doing so within the current system. Since ketamine infusions are not covered by the majority of insurances, you don't have all the red tape that a traditional medical practice has. Yes, we are talking about being a cash-only private practice. We acknowledge that this can lead to only attracting and serving patients that can afford this, i.e. those with disposable income or wealth. However, over time we have (as well as you) come up with ways to offer discounts or to work with patients who are less able to afford it. There is a growing number of insurances that are starting to cover infusions, which is wonderful as ketamine infusions do make a difference for the right patient. However, it does come at the cost of increased administrative demand on your part as the clinic owner. 

So, what are we and other ketamine clinics doing amidst the number of insurance companies still not covering ketamine infusions? Read our BLOG to find out.

Are you a natural born leader and want to run a clinic your way?

Reason #3 You Want To Be Your Own Boss and Be The Ultimate Decision Maker. 

You're a natural born leader. You are somebody who likes to get things done. You enjoy building something and saying that you built it! Related to #2, you are tired of being told how to take care of your patients. You are now ready to take care of patients your way and run a clinic in the way you want to.

Perhaps you can relate to this. Both of us held positions of leadership in the form of being medical directors. While these positions did lend itself some power to cause change for the better for both physicians and patients, there was a limit. We were still beholden to those above us. At a certain point, we were just middle managers policing our fellow physicians and maintaining the status quo via policy. Once there was a time that Sam wanted to get an additional chair next to him in the emergency department, so his scribe could sit down as they were charting. So he went and got a chair and put it next to his. The next time he was on shift, he was notified that what he had done was not allowed! Plus, in the future, if he wanted to get another chair, he needed to submit a request which would be reviewed at the next director meeting. Can you relate to this? Have you had some version of this ridiculousness happen to you? Starting our own practice meant that we were on our own, which was scary at times but we called all the shots, and we mean all. If we didn’t want to schedule patients on a certain day because we wanted to go on a vacation, then we didn’t. If we wanted another chair, we bought it. The only person we had to ask for permission from was ourselves.

Do you want to call the shots and decide how much you want to earn as a ketamine clinic owner?

Reason #4 You Want To Take Control Of Your Money Making Ability (Financial Independence).

How does that work with starting your own clinic? Remember when we thought being a physician was a stable lucrative job? The COVID-19 pandemic occurred. Some of you got overworked and your health was put at risk, without hazard pay. For others your shifts were cut since your clinics or ER were not busy early on in the pandemic (like Sam). Others perhaps got furloughed (which essentially happened to Kim). Now how stable and lucrative is being a doctor? Yes there is a safety to being salaried at a traditional medical clinic or hospital, but you are at the mercy of the administrators unless you have a lot of influence (and if you do...you’re probably an administrator and you probably aren’t reading this!). And yes, owning your business is risky with that potential for failure. But you get to call the shots. You open when you want to. You work as much as you want to.

This is where the concept of “ownership” comes into play. Perhaps you already practice “ownership.” Even if you aren’t the chair of your department, you still own your work. You do a good job with integrity not because someone is watching you or to CYA, but because it's the right thing to do. You take ownership of your actions no matter the outcome. When you start your own clinic, this ownership becomes much more clear. Because you are the captain of the ship and there is no administrator telling you want to do.It’s all on you. If patients are to be seen, you make sure you are marketing and reaching out to potential referring providers. If you want vials of ketamine in your clinic, you personally order them. If a patient had a poor experience with your staff, you own it and you speak with the patient and then you speak with the staff member to rectify the situation. If you want to replace your current hospital salary with money from your ketamine clinic and more, then you do what you need to do. There is no control and freedom without taking ownership of your situation. 

Learn more about what to expect from our blog on 5 Truths About Owning A Ketamine Clinic.

Do you believe that starting a ketamine clinic is what you were destined to do?

Reason #5 You Believe This Is What You Were Meant To Do. 

Why do you want to start a ketamine clinic? If some aspect of your “Why” is related to helping others on not only on the physical level but also on the interpersonal, psychological, and emotional level, starting a ketamine infusion clinic might be right for you. Do you feel “called” to do this? Have you had a powerful experience in your professional or personal life that has led you to consider this path of providing life transforming ketamine infusions? Then these are pretty powerful reasons to open a clinic. Neither one of us ever dreamt that we would start our own ketamine clinic. We did believe, however, that we were meant to care for not just the biological aspects of a patient but also their mental, emotional, and spiritual parts. We both did our medical school and residency training at institutions that emphasized the whole person and bio-psycho-social-spiritual model of health. So when research supported ketamine as a novel treatment of mood disorder and chronic pain disorders, we saw this therapy as a means to start our own business and align with our life’s purpose! If you believe providing ketamine infusions resonates with what you are passionate about, then we say, “Do it!” 

Final Thoughts About Opening A Ketamine Infusion Clinic

Did you notice making money or getting-rich-quick schemes is not on our list?!? Working extra shifts or increasing your RVU’s can get you more money quicker and without as much risk. Our first month, we provided only THREE infusions! Plus, it took us several months before we started to see a full day of patients, and about a year and a half before local physicians started to refer to us consistently. Patience is key and money alone cannot be your main reason or even your second reason. You need a good reason or a powerful personal “Why” beyond money to sustain you through the ups and downs of starting and owning a business.

Can you relate to any of these reasons? Ready to open your own ketamine clinic and want to learn how to efficiently and effectively do so? Join our email list and be notified about the next free webinar and open registration for Ketamine StartUp.

Ketamine infusion clinics are growing in popularity, so should you open one? Opening a business is risky, so you need reasons beyond making money. Read about 5 good reasons to open one at our blog!

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