Episode #39
From 1 Physician to 150: How Practices Actually Scale | Alejandro Fernandez
A real practice should survive two weeks with the owner gone. If it can't, you don't own a business - you own a job. Alejandro "Alex" Fernandez has spent more than 30 years in physician practice management, front desk to boardroom. He ran multi-specialty groups as large as 150 physicians and was founding CEO of Gastro Health, the first private-equity-backed gastroenterology platform to sell. He now runs Synergy Orthopedic Specialists in San Diego. He joins Jakub Grajcar on how practices actually scale - and what buyers see before they offer. We dig into: Alex's #1 tip for growing a practice - if it can't run for two weeks without you, you own a job, not a business Why patient experience is the most neglected part of a practice, and what a twelve-page clipboard tells a new patient What to get right before you grow - your numbers, your billing, and the habit of pulling every dollar out of the business How to keep the revenue you're currently referring out - path labs, lasers, aesthetics, a shared PA, and the ROI math behind each Merging vs. buying another practice - why a merger of equals is the harder move, and where those conversations break down What physician alignment actually means, and what happens to a group when five owners have five different plans What buyers see when they look at your practice - and why two groups earning the same money don't sell for the same price Resources mentioned: Guest: Alejandro "Alex" Fernandez, MBA, CMPE - CEO, Synergy Orthopedic Specialists LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexfernandezmba/ Website: https://synergysmg.com Organizations Gastro Health - first private-equity-backed gastroenterology platform; Alex was founding CEO: https://gastrohealth.com Books Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business - Gino Wickman Off-topic but mentioned The Odyssey - Jakub's unsponsored movie recommendation See how Talkie.ai works - AI medical receptionist demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg
