Business of general practice: What’s the next thing?

With just over two weeks until the RACGP’s 2024 Practice Owners Conference, keynote presenter Michael McQueen is gearing up for the opportunity to not only share his insights, but identify innovative business models to guide his own work.
 
His presentation on day two of the conference, ‘Preparing now for what’s next’, will cover the key trends that will shape the coming decade and how these play in to general practice.
 
‘By nature, most practice owners and managers are curious people,’ Mr McQueen told newsGP.
 
‘Many love technology and there’s actually been greater adoption of new technologies in the GP world than from some adjacent professions, for instance, dentistry, veterinary care, optometry.
 
‘GPs have been really on the front foot, so what I want to share with them is: if they’re already looking at how to increase efficiency and use technology in their practices, what’s the next thing?’
 
While many GPs are doing ‘all of the moving parts’ and the day-to-day work of running a practice, managing staff or dealing with compliance and regulation, Mr McQueen wants to encourage practice owners to step back and look at what else is happening in the industry, and beyond.
 
‘I’m hoping to bring that perspective, so people say, “Gosh I’ve never heard or thought about that, it wasn’t on my radar”,’ he said.
 
‘But also to empower them to go back and do some things differently, or at least investigate some new options and ideas they hadn’t considered before.’
 
As a business strategist and trend forecaster, Mr McQueen has presented at conferences around the world for the past two decades, has previously been awarded Australia’s Keynote Speaker of the Year, and was inducted into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame.
 
His presentation at Conference will have a specific focus on the impacts of AI and hybrid work, the role Gen Z will play in redefining industry norms and consumer expectations, as well as how to avoid common culture and mindset traps, and strategies for ‘staying one step ahead of change’.
 
Having conducted work around technology and AI and how it relates to clinical work, particularly the area of diagnostics, Mr McQueen says business operation goals and governance for general practices are similar to many other industries.
 
‘Once you strip out the medical context, basically every small and medium sized service-based business is dealing with the same stuff,’ he said.
 
‘[For example] trying to find the right staff, particularly younger generation staff and managing and leading them, and looking at how to increase efficiency.
 
‘Technology can enable all the backend systems, making the work more efficient, particularly the use of AI. Working across the whole spectrum of industries, hopefully I can bring insight into what I’m seeing happening elsewhere and how that relates to the practice management world.’
 
And although specific management software that practices use might be particular to the medical industry, Mr McQueen sees the same happening with some of his other clients, such as accounting, law, schools and universities.
 
A veteran conference attendee, Mr McQueen is looking forward to being inspired by and networking with practice owners and managers at the upcoming Conference.
 
‘When I go to an industry that I haven’t done a lot of work in – I’ve done a bit in the medical and GP world but not heaps – I love wandering around the trade exhibition hall because that’s where I learn so much about who’s doing what in particular,’ he said.
 
‘There’s some really clever cutting-edge innovations and startups often floating around there, and I just walk in fostering curiosity of who’s doing what, and what’s clever and interesting that deserves to be celebrated.
 
‘I often will come away from conferences like this with a whole lot of new ideas, and even Australian innovations and technologies that I can then put a spotlight on when I’m doing other segments on TV or writing articles myself, or even talking about things on stage.
 
‘I’m really looking forward to wandering around the exhibition hall and getting to listen to what’s happening. I can’t wait to get up to Cairns.’
 
The 2024 Practice Owners Conference will take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from Friday 24 – Sunday 26 May.
 
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