With the recent growth, the practice is considering relocating its office to another, larger office facility. Several options are being discussed. Should they relocate to a more affluent area of the city that is less diverse?

A growing, profitable internal medicine practice of 10 physicians, 2 physician assistants, a physical therapist, and a massage therapist is located in a city of 150,000 people. The clinical personnel are mostly from the majority group in the area and consider themselves open-minded, altruistic, and culturally aware. The administrative support staff is representative of the makeup of the patient population-mostly minority groups in the local community. The patient population is growing and becoming more diverse from those newly arrived in the city. The practice is currently facing several challenges.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. With the recent growth, the practice is considering relocating its office to another, larger office facility. Several options are being discussed. Should they relocate to a more affluent area of the city that is less diverse? Or should they stay the same neighborhood, even if it is less profitable? What are the pros and cons of staying in this neighborhood versus moving to another area? If the sent is higher in the more diverse areas, is that enough to justify not moving there? Or is diversity responsiveness a “cost of doing business”? How should the practice manager proceed?

2. The practice wants to maintain its good standing in the community. What initiatives could it undertake to remain connected to its local patient population?