The strategist helping independent practices grow and thrive
By Jenny Peterson
Craig Kilgore is helping independent medical practices navigate a healthcare system that has become increasingly complicated.
His innovation is filling a gap that has opened up as independent practices become increasingly complex businesses: Doctors know medicine, practice managers run the day-to-day, but many practices no longer have someone thinking about strategy, growth and what comes next.
For most physicians, becoming a doctor means learning how to diagnose, treat and care for patients. It doesn’t necessarily mean learning how to run a business.
Today, running an independent medical practice can require nearly as much business savvy as medical expertise. Insurance companies are scrutinizing claims more closely. Reimbursements can be delayed. Staffing costs are rising. Technology is changing how claims are processed. And practices are being asked to do more with fewer resources.
That’s where Kilgore comes in.
A longtime healthcare executive, Kilgore leads HealthLinks Consulting, a healthcare consulting and advisory company focused on helping independent practices across the Southeast solve operational problems, plan for growth and think beyond the demands of the day-to-day.
His approach is less about simply cutting costs and more about asking bigger questions: What could this practice become? Are you meeting the needs in the community? What type of investment are you willing to make?
“I’m a growth person,” Kilgore said. “I like to see things come together.”
That might mean helping a practice evaluate whether it should open another location, add a physician, develop a new service line, acquire another practice or rethink how it operates.
It can also mean helping a physician step back from the daily pressures of running a practice long enough to see the bigger picture.
From Business to Healthcare
That perspective comes from decades of experience.
Kilgore grew up in Tennessee and attended East Tennessee State University, where he majored in business and accounting. A required general health course unexpectedly sparked his interest in healthcare.
He didn’t want to be a caregiver, so he asked his professor how he could support providers behind the scenes.
The answer was healthcare administration, and a combination of business, IT and healthcare became the foundation of his career.
After college, Kilgore joined Holston Medical Group in Kingsport, Tennessee, where he helped lead the strategic growth of the multispecialty practice that increased from 12 doctors to 150 providers while overseeing finance, operations, business development, information technology and physician contracting.
“I was able to help build and open diagnostic centers and surgery centers, acquire rehab facilities, do mergers and acquisitions, group positions and grow in different markets,” Kilgore said.
He moved to Charleston in 2012 to become CEO of Charleston ENT & Allergy, helping grow the practice from a small independent group into South Carolina’s largest independent otolaryngology and allergy group. He later served in executive leadership at Coastal Vascular & Vein Center, which has expanded to six locations across the state. During his experience providing executive leadership, he lead the development of more than 20 medical offices, ASC’s and commercial real estate projects.
“Physicians should be afforded the time and tools to do what they love, taking care of patients, and not have to worry about running the business side of healthcare,” Kilgore said.
A Changing Business
Kilgore sees his role as helping practices step back and examine their biggest pain points, while also looking beyond them to see a bigger picture.
That could mean improving the revenue cycle, but it could also mean asking whether a practice should bring a service in-house, expand into another market or develop a strategy for growth.
That is where Kilgore sees himself functioning less as a traditional consultant and more as a fractional CEO — providing objective executive-level strategic thinking without a practice having to hire a full-time executive.
Kilgore is a Fellow of the American College of Medical Practice Executives, the profession’s highest distinction and a former President of ASCENT, the administrators professional association for ENT and Allergy practices.
Kilgore said he isn’t interested in simply arriving with a spreadsheet and cutting expenses.
“I don’t enjoy that,” he said. “I’m a growth person.”
Many practices already have capable managers handling staffing, revenue-cycle operations and the daily business of keeping the doors open. What they may not have is someone looking several years down the road.
“If a practice is routinely sending patients elsewhere for a service it is qualified and equipped to provide, bringing that service in-house can create a new revenue stream while making care more convenient for patients,” Kilgore said.
For Kilgore, the payoff is that stronger, growing practices can mean greater access and more convenient care for patients — particularly as communities grow and demand for medical services increases.
“What I’ve done my whole career, in my own way, is help people,” Kilgore said. “While I’m not the one providing the care directly, I’m able to still help people and still get a lot of satisfaction from it.”
