We were lucky to catch up with Patricia Delzell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Patricia, thanks for joining us today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

When I was transitioning from being employed by a large medical establishment to opening my own practice, I was a bit overwhelmed with all the steps I needed to complete before I actually started seeing patients. Not only did I have to comply from a small business standpoint, but there are a large number of regulations from a medical standpoint to be completed. It is essential when you are starting out that you have a trusted banker, an involved accountant and a corporate lawyer who primarily deals with medical practices to make sure everything is taken care of properly. Two of the largest hurdles I faced was getting an SBA loan and sufficient marketing. Luckily I also had a business strategist who helped me and worked closely with my accountant and my banker to complete that process. The marketing challenge still remains just that, a challenge. There are so many facets to the marketing that not one company or person can accomplish all that needs to be done to make the marketing effective. One of the best things I did was become engaged with the SCORE mentoring process. SCORE is a free mentoring service for every aspect of your business that is provided by the SBA. I get an enormous amount of help from my SCORE mentor from detailed review of my financial reports every month to sales training for my employees. Even before opening a business I would recommend getting a SCORE mentor who will guide you through the process seamlessly. Wish I had done that upfront.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started out as a musculoskeletal radiologist specializing in diagnostic exams and therapeutic intervention with ultrasound for issues of the musculoskeletal system, particularly myofascial scar and nerve entrapments. As I progressed through my career I was dealing with more and more chronic pain patients who were not getting better with simple procedures. I found that frustrating so I developed some treatment protocols with the physical and occupational therapists to provide a bit more of a robust treatment plan for my patients. This helped many patients but there were still about 15% of people who were still not improving. At that point I became involved with the integrative medicine community and became fellowship trained in integrative medicine at the Andrew Weil Institute of Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona from 2017-2019 and completed an Integrative Pain Medicine Certificate in 2019. I then started combining my traditional medicine techniques with an integrative pain medicine approach. This has been very successful in helping that 15% of people to lead a better life. My practice model:

” I envision a collaborative care model for the patients who are referred to me in order to guide and maintain a state of inner balance moving away from pain, illness, and disease and focusing on the wellness of the mind, body and soul.”

I have the day-to-day satisfaction of helping those who other practitioners have told “I have nothing more to offer you.” There are no words to describe the joy I have giving people with chronic pain the hope for a better life.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I have a niche practice that combines traditional and complementary medicine. My patients are in pain everyday. The need for a calming, peaceful atmosphere is of the utmost importance. Part of being an integrative medicine practitioner is practicing what you preach. Treating people with compassion and respect is paramount in our office, that includes patients and staff. Providing a work environment that involves every member of the team in the business, and emphasizes their importance in the success of the business as well as the success of patient improvement helps everyone to feel they are part of a team and that they have a very important role to play everyday. We have open communication in our office. We have weekly team meetings and daily check-ins as well as quarterly individual meetings to ensure the employees have their voices heard and that everyone is contributing to the mission of the office. My employees are all integral parts of the business and the practice and they feel pride in their work and contributions.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective way the practice grows is by word of mouth. The more my patients improve, the more they tell their friends and family to engage in the practice. It is most important to have a good, reliable product that produces results, no matter what your business is. If you have that, it makes the marketing easy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.advancedmmc.com
• Instagram: ADVANCEDMMC
• Facebook: ADVANCEDMMC
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-delzell-210a2119
• Youtube: @DPACDELZELL