BEWARE Amateur Demographics

DoctorDemographics Podcast

These episodes represent a word of caution regarding your source of demographic information on data and analysis. There are lots of amateur demographers who have entered the field recently. True, they may be well-meaning. These "newbies" are usually getting rehashed" data from a source within the Federal or State bureaucracy]that purports to tell you about changes in demographics. It isn't necessarily true that the data is wrong. The biggest danger to doctors, consultants, and brokers is that they often make claims about the viability, and risks of practice site analysis.

I refer to them as "amateurs" because the analysis must be based on their knowledge of the professions they are measuring. For example, one must know if the distribution of providers in a suburban area is at, above, or below the norms for that type of practice being considered. Urgent Care practices have different thresholds of success than dental practice, for example. A practice that relies upon internal versus network referrals has different measurements of success. In short, knowing how demographics relate to the profession you are undertaking is not simple and requires experience with the population AND the measurements that will matter. Beware trusting demographers who are new, inexperienced, or generalists. You cannot afford this kind of mistake.