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Succession planning is something that all businesses need to consider, healthcare companies included. You need to put a plan in place for what is going to happen when you decide to walk away from the company. You cannot simply pack your bags and say goodbye! Even if you decide to sell your business, there will be a period of transition that you’re going to be involved in.

No matter what healthcare business you have, be it a herbal medicine retailer or you have the best home care business in your area, putting together a thorough succession plan is a must. Here are the different things you need to consider:

• Start by thinking about the deal structure – The first thing you need to consider is what sort of succession is going to be effective for your healthcare business. Client retention is one of the main things that you need to keep in mind when you are thinking about this. In a lot of instances, training your existing healthcare workers is going to be best, as your clients will already know these people and so it makes the transition a lot easier. It feels much more natural and seamless! Of course, this is not automatically going to be the best option for everyone. You may decide to sell the firm and stay for a period of a year or two to manage the transition, for example. 

• Determining your objectives – The next thing you need to consider is your objectives. You cannot put together a succession plan without having a clear understanding of what your aims and objectives are. Do you want to retire fully? Or, do you wish to work on a part-time basis for a period of time? Determining your objectives is imperative, as it provides the direction for your plan.

• Put a timeline on things – In addition to the points that have been mentioned so far, you also need to consider when you want to retire from your healthcare business. Of course, we cannot predict the future. However, planned exits can make the transition much easier, so having a timeline in place can really assist. A lot of business owners assume that a succession plan will only take a couple of months, but it will take a lot longer than this. It can actually take a few years to fully implement a succession plan, so the sooner you get started, the better.

• The implementation of your succession plan – Aside from the points that have been mentioned above, you need to think about how you’re going to implement your succession plan. Problems can happen between the person you’re selling your business to (if that’s the route you go down), and yourself, if you do not have expectations that are on the same page as one and another. This is why it makes sense to put the full implementation process in writing. Include dates and outlines for every part of the implementation to make sure you do not run into any problems down the line.