Starting a practice is exciting, meaningful, and honestly a little overwhelming.
When you first open your doors, you tend to focus on the obvious things first: your space, your equipment, your branding, your systems, and of course, how you’re going to take great care of the people walking through the door. But one of the biggest lessons I learned is that the software running in the background matters a lot more than you think it will.
If I could give one piece of advice to anyone in the early days of practice ownership, it would be this: start with dedicated practice management software from day one.
For me, that’s been Jane.
I’ve been using Jane since 2018, and one of the things I’ve appreciated most is that it brings scheduling, charting, billing, payments, and patient communication into one place. When you’re starting a clinic, that matters. A lot. Instead of building your workflow around disconnected tools and hoping they cooperate, you can build a stronger foundation from the beginning.
One of the biggest challenges of opening a practice is that you are not just a practitioner anymore. You are also learning how to be an owner, operator, scheduler, biller, problem solver, and sometimes even the accidental IT department. In those early stages, every extra step adds up. Every workaround costs time. Every system that does not talk to the others creates friction you feel all day long.
When I first opened, I did as much as I possibly could myself because every dollar mattered. I handled my own insurance credentialing. I built my own website. I designed my own logo. In every way possible, I tried to figure things out myself. There is a lot on your to-do list when starting an office, but the one area I never struggled with was patient care. The challenge was everything surrounding it.
That is why I think dedicated EMR and practice management software is so important, even in the early days.
You may not have a big team yet. You may not have a huge patient volume yet. But that is exactly when clean systems matter most. The habits and workflows you build early tend to stick.
Starting with a platform designed for private practice can make it easier to stay organized, communicate clearly, keep documentation on track, and create a better experience for both your team and your patients.
For a long time, one of the biggest weak points for me was documentation.
Like a lot of providers, I went to school to become a doctor, not to become an expert in EMR setup, documentation systems, or the business side of charting. Early on, my documentation was honestly pretty minimalistic. I knew how to take care of patients, but no one had really spent much time teaching me how to build strong documentation workflows inside an EMR.
That is one of the reasons AI Scribe has been such a big deal for me.
Jane highlights their AI Scribe as one of the features that can lighten the day-to-day admin load for practitioners, and that description fits my experience well. It has taken the heavy lifting off one more major part of running a practice.
Before AI Scribe, I used to joke that I thought I would hire a scribe before I hired a biller. What I meant by that was simple: documentation takes a huge amount of mental energy, and I wanted to be able to stay focused on the patient in front of me instead of constantly feeling pulled back into the computer.
Now, in a lot of ways, Jane took care of that for me.
AI Scribe has helped me feel more supported in an area that used to feel heavy. It helps reduce the burden of documentation while still allowing me to stay engaged in patient care. More importantly, it has helped me feel more prepared. If I ever have to face an insurance audit, or if my records are needed to support a patient involved in an auto injury claim, I feel much better knowing my documentation is more complete and more defensible than it used to be.
That peace of mind matters.
When you are building a practice, you do not just need software that helps you get through today. You need systems that help protect the work you are doing long-term. Good documentation is part of that. It supports continuity of care, improves communication, and gives you more confidence that your records reflect the care you actually provided.
That is why I think software matters so much in the early days. It is not just about staying organized. It is about building workflows that support the kind of practice you want to have years from now.
Another thing worth mentioning is support.
When you are opening or growing a practice, you do not just need software. You need help. You need to know that when you hit a snag, have a setup question, or want to improve a workflow, there are real people you can reach out to. Jane’s materials also emphasize that side of the platform, and I think that is especially important for newer clinic owners who are still figuring out
what they need most.
There is also a patient side to this that is easy to underestimate.
When someone is trying to book, fill out forms, or manage their appointments, those first interactions shape how they experience your practice before they ever meet you. Having online booking, a patient portal, and systems that work together can make that process feel smoother and more professional from the start, while also reducing administrative work on your end. That is a win for both the clinic owner and the patient.
If you are in your first year of practice ownership, or thinking about starting your own clinic, my advice would be this:
Do not wait until things feel messy to put the right systems in place.
Choose tools that support the kind of practice you actually want to build. Look for software that helps with the full picture, not just one piece of it. Think about your future workflows now, even if your schedule is still light. And choose something that gives you room to grow without forcing you to rebuild everything later.
If you are exploring what that could look like, I’d recommend checking out Jane’s New Practice Guide, which is built to help practitioners who are opening or growing a clinic. And if documentation feels like one of the heaviest parts of practice ownership, AI Scribe is absolutely one of the Jane features I would point newer practitioners toward first. Jane specifically encourages partners to share the feature they think is most helpful for new practitioners, and for me, this is the one.
Starting a practice is a big job, and no one should feel like they have to figure it all out alone.
The right software will not build your clinic for you, but it can make the early days more manageable, more organized, and a whole lot less stressful. And in my case, AI Scribe has made one of the biggest differences by taking a task that used to feel heavy and making it feel far more doable.
If you want to learn more, you can explore Jane’s resources here:
And if you’re ready to get started with Jane, you can use my code MEIER1MO for a one-month grace period on your new account.
Dr. Nick Meier
Contact Me
%20(1400%20x%20750%20px)%20(2).jpg)
