I am Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits.
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Every physiatrist has a list.
Update the website.
Call the referral source.
Review the contract.
Fix the billing problem.
Hire help.
Create content.
Negotiate the medical director agreement.
Learn business.
Start the practice.
And somewhere between “I need to do this” and “I’ll get to it later,” another month disappears.
Here is the painful truth:
Most physiatrists are not failing to build profitable practices because they lack intelligence, compassion, or clinical skill.
They are struggling because everything feels important.
So nothing gets done first.
That is the trap.
And in today’s healthcare market, that trap is expensive.
Why Physiatrists Feel Overwhelmed by Business Decisions
Demand for PM&R is rising.
Patients need functional restoration.
Hospitals need rehab leadership.
Aging populations need physicians who understand mobility, independence, chronic pain, neurologic recovery, and quality of life.
Yet many physiatrists are buried under:
Increasing workloads.
Declining reimbursement.
Administrative pressure.
Business decisions they were never trained to make.
Medical school taught you how to diagnose foot drop.
It did not teach you how to stop your practice from bleeding cash.
So you keep waiting until you have more time, understand business better, or feel more prepared.
Meanwhile, other people are making business decisions around your clinical value.
They own the systems.
They control the contracts.
They capture the upside.
You get the workload.
They get the wealth.
That should bother you.
The Regret Test
When everything feels important, stop asking:
“What is the most important task?”
Instead, ask:
“If I could only do one thing today, which task would I most regret leaving undone tomorrow?”
That is the Regret Test.
And for physiatrists trying to build profitable practices, it may be one of the clearest questions you can ask.
Because importance is abstract.
Regret is concrete.
You may not know whether you should work on your website, negotiate your contract, build a referral system, create a cash-pay offer, hire an assistant, or finally understand your revenue cycle.
But you probably know which task is quietly punching you in the gut every morning.
That task is telling you something.
The Task You Avoid Has a Cost
The contract you have not reviewed may be costing you six figures.
The referral relationship you have not built may be costing you independence.
The billing process you do not understand may be costing you margin.
The content you have not created may be costing you authority.
The practice you have not started may be costing you freedom.
This is where the Regret Test becomes powerful.
It cuts through fake productivity.
It helps you stop hiding behind email, meetings, research, and minor edits.
It forces you to identify the one action that actually moves your practice toward profitability.
That does not mean the task will be easy.
It probably will not be.
The task you would most regret avoiding is often the one that requires the most courage.
The Real Physician FOMO
This is where FOMO becomes useful.
Not the shallow kind where you worry everyone else is winning on LinkedIn.
The deeper kind.
The fear of missing out on the professional life you were supposed to build.
A life where you own your value.
A life where your clinical expertise creates equity, not just exhaustion.
A life where you are not begging for permission to practice medicine on your own terms.
That kind of FOMO is not weakness.
It is information.
It may be telling you that you have delayed the wrong thing for too long.
Most Physiatrists Already Know the Next Move
Here is the suspense:
Most physiatrists already know the next move.
They just do not want to face it.
It is usually the uncomfortable one.
The conversation with the hospital CEO.
The request for fair market compensation.
The decision to leave a toxic arrangement.
The investment in business coaching.
The first offer.
The first video.
The first practice model.
The first no to being underpaid for expert-level work.
The Regret Test does not make your entire business easy.
This is medicine, not a Disney movie.
There are no singing birds doing your credentialing paperwork.
But it does create clarity.
And clarity creates movement.
Profitable Practices Are Built by Doing the Right Hard Thing First
Independent physicians are not built by doing everything.
They are built by doing the right hard thing first.
The physiatrist who feels behind, overwhelmed, and unsure where to start does not need another giant list.
They need a better filter.
Here is the next step:
Write down everything that feels important.
Then circle the one task you would most regret avoiding for another day.
Do that first.
Before email.
Before scrolling.
Before another “quick meeting” that somehow becomes a 47-minute hostage situation with a calendar invite.
Because your future practice is not waiting for you to feel ready.
It is waiting for you to act.
What Will You Regret Not Doing Today?
If you are a physiatrist who wants to build a profitable practice, reclaim ownership of medicine, and stop letting other people define your value, the question is not whether you are capable.
You are.
The real question is:
What will you regret not doing today?
Answer that honestly.
Then start there.
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Once you’ve decided that you want to leave your current job to start your practice, you need an exit plan. Check out our blog post here for tips on developing an exit plan and starting your new independent practice.
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I’m Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits. Please go to businessofrehab.com/contractnegotiations to pick up the free guide to help you negotiate the contract of your dreams.
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Attention, Physiatrists! Stop leaving money on the table. Sign up for the free video series: How To Build A Profitable Practice in 90 Days or Less: http://www.sixtytosuccess.com
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