How the partnership actually works
There is a version of this arrangement that gets described in vague language, and a version that gets described plainly. This is the plain one.
The structure
Health practices in Canada are regulated at the provincial level, and the rules about who may own and control a practice differ from one profession to another. Those rules exist for a good reason: clinical decisions should be made by the person with the clinical training, and nobody else.
So the structure varies by discipline, and we build it around the regulation rather than around it. In some disciplines, Halbern can hold the practice directly. In others — dentistry among them — the practice and its clinical authority remain with the licensed practitioner, and Halbern holds the non-clinical side: the premises, the equipment, the administrative team, the systems. The two are joined by a management services agreement that spells out precisely what we do and, just as importantly, what we have no say in.
In every version of the arrangement, one thing is constant. Clinical judgement, treatment planning, patient records, and professional obligations to the College belong to the treating practitioner. Halbern has no authority over any of them, is not looking for any, and would not know what to do with it.
This gets drafted by health-law counsel for each practice individually. It is not a template we hand you, and you should have your own lawyer and accountant read every page of it. We would think less of a seller who didn't.
What we take on
Not everything at once, and not on day one. In the first ninety days the priority is that nothing breaks. After that, in roughly this order:
Payroll, bookkeeping, and remittances
The unglamorous foundation. Source deductions, GST/PST, WorkSafeBC, T4s, year-end. Handled centrally, on time, by people who do only this.
Billing and receivables
Extended health and insurer submissions, ICBC and WorkSafeBC claims where applicable, follow-up on everything outstanding. Most independent practices are carrying more uncollected revenue than they realise, and this is usually the fastest visible improvement.
Recruiting
The hardest problem in the industry and the one owners raise first. We run the searches, the screening, and the offers, and we can move a locum in when someone is off. A practice that can reliably staff itself is worth more than one that cannot.
Purchasing
Consumables, equipment, software licensing, and the group buying arrangements that a single-site practice cannot access on its own.
Leases, insurance, and compliance administration
Renewals, negotiations, certificates, privacy documentation, and the annual paperwork that always seems to land during a full week of patients.
Systems
Only if there is a real reason. If the practice management software works and the team knows it, it stays. We are not going to migrate a functioning practice onto a new platform to make our reporting tidier.
What you do next
Most of the owners we talk to are not trying to stop working. They are trying to stop doing the parts of the work that have nothing to do with why they trained in the first place.
So the usual arrangement is that you keep practising, on a clinical schedule you choose, under an agreement that runs for as long as you want it to. Some founders go from five days to three. Some stay full-time for another decade and simply hand over the paperwork. Some want a firm date and a clean handover, and that is a reasonable thing to want too.
There is also usually a question of ownership going forward. In most of our arrangements the founder retains a meaningful stake in the practice rather than selling all of it, which means you continue to participate in how it does — and, if Halbern grows into something larger over the following years, in that as well. Whether that suits you depends entirely on your own situation, and it is one of the first things to talk through.
What we ask in return is straightforward: that you stay long enough for the team and the patients to feel that nothing has been done to them.
How a conversation usually goes
A first conversation, with no documents
Usually an hour, in person if you are in the Lower Mainland. You are under no obligation to send us anything at all at this stage, and we will not ask.
A look at the numbers, under a signed agreement
Three years of financials, the appointment book, and the payer mix. A mutual confidentiality agreement is signed before anything changes hands.
A written offer with the structure explained in plain terms
Price, how it is paid, what stake you keep, what your clinical role looks like, and what happens to every member of your staff. In writing, with the reasoning shown.
Diligence, then closing
Sixty to ninety days is typical. Your team finds out on a timeline that you set, in words that you approve, and never before you are ready.
The first conversation costs you nothing but an hour.
You do not need to be ready to sell. Most people we speak with are working out whether this is even the right kind of arrangement for them, which is a perfectly good reason to get in touch.