Medical Laboratory Business Plan and SWOT Analysis

Medical Laboratory Business Plan, Marketing Plan, How To Guide, and Funding Directory

The Medical Laboratory Business Plan and Business Development toolkit features 18 different documents that you can use for capital raising or general business planning purposes. Our product line also features comprehensive information regarding to how to start a Medical Laboratory business. All business planning packages come with easy-to-use instructions so that you can reduce the time needed to create a professional business plan and presentation.

Your Business Planning Package will be immediately emailed to you after you make your purchase.

Product Specifications (please see images below):

  • Bank/Investor Ready!
  • Complete Industry Research
  • 3 Year Excel Financial Model
  • Business Plan (26 to 30 pages)
  • Loan Amortization and ROI Tools
  • Three SWOT Analysis Templates
  • Easy to Use Instructions
  • All Documents Delivered in Word, Excel, and PDF Format
  • Meets SBA Requirements

Medical laboratories are extremely important businesses for physicians, nurse practitioners, hospitals, and other medical entities that have tissues and other samples that need to be examined. The majority of medical laboratory companies operate on an independent basis are typically owned by board-certified pathologists. One of the nice things about this business is that it is wholly immune from negative changes in the economy given that physicians are always going to need to have medical samples examined on an ongoing basis. These businesses typically generate revenues from reimbursement from private insurance, publicly funded healthcare systems, and through patient co-pays.

Many medical laboratory businesses will operate a number of satellite locations where patients can come directly to the business in order to have blood drawn or have other medical samples taken. The startup cost associated with these businesses is dependent on the type of services rendered although most businesses typically have a startup cost of around $300,000 to $500,000. The gross margins generated from medical laboratory business typically around 80% depending on whether or not specific medical supplies as well as bad debt expense is counted as part of the overall cost of goods sold. These businesses have readily available access the capital especially among medical laboratories that are owned by a pathologist given that this is a healthcare related business. During times of economic recession, the revenues generated by a medical laboratory business does not wane.

All financial institutions are willing to provide the necessary capital in order to aggressively develop and expand a medical laboratory. Of course, a medical laboratory business plan is going to be required. This document should feature a three-year profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, and business ratios page. If the entrepreneur or physician owner is seeking to raise capital from a bank that it is very important to showcase all of the medical equipment, furniture, fixtures, and other assets that we purchased with the loan proceeds. A typical down payment of 10% to 20% of the overall startup cost is typically required by most banks.

A demographic analysis showcasing the number of people in the market coupled with the amount of physicians in the market should be included as well. This is important because many medical laboratory businesses work directly with physicians in order to generate referrals among patients that need to have samples taken directly. Additionally, physicians often will contract with medical laboratories in order to render the services.

As it relates to industry research, there are approximately 40,000 medical laboratories in the United States that employ about 250,000 people. Each year these businesses aggregate we generate about $54 billion revenue. The ongoing growth rate associated with this industry is about 2%, but it was is expected that it will increase more substantially as the baby boomer population requires a greater degree of medical care. The expected growth rate over the next 20 years is about 4% to 5% per year. This growth will occur regardless of whether or not the economy is doing well.

A medical laboratory SWOT analysis is typically developed as well. As it relates to strengths, these businesses are always able to generate substantial revenues by providing medical examinations of tissues, blood, and other patient samples. They are able to generate substantial revenues from private insurance reimbursements as well as publicly funded healthcare systems such as Medicare and Medicaid.

For weaknesses, medical laboratories do have very high operating expenses. Staff pathologists as well as nurses must be hired in order to properly render the services to the general public. There is also a substantial amount of liability that is associated with operating a medical laboratory as incorrectly processed tests can result in substantial patient issues. As such, very large malpractice insurance policies need to be acquired for the ongoing operations of a medical laboratory.

As it relates to opportunities, medical laboratories can readily expand by establishing additional locations while concurrently securing ongoing contracts with major healthcare providers such as hospitals, group medical practices, allied healthcare practices, and other entities that require ongoing testing of medical samples.

As it pertains the threats, healthcare companies – including medical laboratories – are always subject to potential changes in regulation as well as changes in reimbursement schedules among publicly funded healthcare systems. However, this is a risk faced by all these businesses and by maintaining a low-cost infrastructure and closely monitoring all internal costs – medical laboratories and are in a good position to continually remain profitable at all times.

A medical laboratory marketing plan should also be developed in order to ensure that physicians, hospitals, and other medical entities can immediately contract with the company to provide medical laboratory services. Most importantly, many of the people that own medical laboratories have ongoing and establish relationships with physicians and hospitals within their regional market. This is probably the most important aspect to the company’s marketing strategy given that ongoing referrals and long-term contracts are typically secured when a staff pathologists is able to refer business to the medical laboratory. Once these relationships are established, and provided that the business provides outstanding service, these businesses can substantially reduce their marketing operations.

Like all businesses, a website should be developed as well that showcases the biographies of staff pathologists, staff nurses, hours of operation, medical samples processed, insurance is accepted, and other information relevant to acquiring and processing medical samples. This website should be listed among all major search engines. It should be noted that a major online marketing campaign is not really necessary for this type of business as a primarily operate on a regional level. The marketing that is necessary for these types of businesses is far more face-to-face rather than direct business-to-business via online marketing channels. A presence on online social media platforms is not necessary for this type of company although it can help boost the visibility of the brand name moving forward.

For a highly qualified healthcare entrepreneur, pathologists, or physician-owner – medical laboratories can be an outstanding small business that has the ability to grow into a highly lucrative corporation during its first five years of operation. People are always going to require specialized medical testing, and a state-of-the-art medical laboratories always good to be in demand. While there are some pieces of legislation then pending regulations that could impact the way that the medical laboratory does business, especially as it relates to reimbursement rates, these businesses are always good to be in demand and it will always remain profitable and cash flow positive in almost every economic climate.