Discussion postAdvanced practice

DQ 2 : Discuss marketing, start-up funds, items needed for your practice

The audience is a banker, not a faculty member. They need a market case, a revenue model and evidence you can run a business — and in a restricted state, the physician agreement is a cost line.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 18, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

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Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

A pitch to investors, not an essay about practice ownership

Write for the room the prompt puts you in. An investor or lender is deciding whether they get their money back, so the pitch has four parts and clinical excellence is assumed rather than argued. First the need: a specific population in a specific geography with a documented access gap — appointment wait times, provider-to-population ratio, a shortage designation, a payer mix — evidenced rather than asserted. Second the model: what services, what hours, cash-pay or insurance or both, which payers you would contract with, and what makes patients choose you rather than the urgent care two miles away. Third the numbers: start-up costs itemised, monthly operating costs, revenue per visit, the visit volume required to break even, and how long until you reach it. Fourth the ask: how much, for what, and what the lender gets. Everything a banker needs is a number or a contract, and clinical conviction is assumed rather than argued.

The items needed follow from the model and are worth listing concretely, because vagueness here reads as inexperience: premises and fit-out, an electronic health record and practice management system, malpractice insurance, business and professional licences, a DEA registration if you will prescribe controlled substances, credentialing with each payer — which takes months and is the commonest cause of a cash-flow crisis in a new practice — clinical equipment and supplies, staff, and a billing arrangement. Then the scope question, which is financial as well as regulatory: in a full practice authority state you can open independently, while in a restricted or reduced state you need a collaborating or supervising physician agreement, which is a recurring cost, a legal dependency and a risk if that physician retires. Marketing should be equally concrete — referral relationships, a web presence, community partnerships — and the honest closing point is that the business risk is usually cash flow during credentialing rather than clinical demand.

Likely learning objectives

Structure a pitch around need, model, numbers and ask.
Evidence a community access gap rather than asserting it.
Itemise start-up requirements including credentialing lead time.
Treat scope of practice as a financial and legal dependency.

Assignment instructions

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Herzing NU 626 Unit 6 DQ 2 Discussion Prompt You have decided to open your own practice – you now need to gain start-up funding. Picture yourself in-front of a group of investors or your local banker – What will you say to them to convince them that you have a good idea, that your services will be a valuable addition to the community, and that you have the business skills to successfully run a practice? Discuss marketing, start-up funds, items needed for your practice, etc. Responses need to address all components of the question, demonstrate critical thinking and analysis, and include peer reviewed journal evidence to support the student’s position. Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format. Please review the rubric to ensure that your response meets the criteria.

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. Herzing NU 626 Unit 6 DQ 2 One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Turn the brief into deliverables

01A documented need for a specific population and geography.
02A service and revenue model.
03Itemised start-up and operating costs with a break-even figure.
04A list of required items, licences and registrations.
05The scope-of-practice position in your state and its cost.