Standards

One side, named

A consultant acts for one party in a deal and the engagement letter names which. No consultant acts for both the seller and the buyer in the same transaction, in any capacity, whatever the fee arrangement.

Operational scope

A consultant's work is operational: systems, staffing, rosters, patient numbers, reporting, accreditation and documentation.

Financial matters go to the owner's accountant. Contracts, leases and structures go to their lawyer. A consultant does not advise on EBITDA, tax, payroll tax or fee split arrangements, and does not give advice they are not qualified or licensed to give.

No consultant values a practice

Where a valuation is needed it comes from an independent valuer, engaged by the owner, whose fee does not depend on the sale proceeding and who has no commercial relationship with Proxeno or with the consultant.

No consultant produces a figure for the owner to rely on, and no consultant receives a fee, referral or benefit from a valuer.

The parties negotiate, not the consultant

A consultant prepares the owner, briefs them and works through offers with them. The owner and the buyer agree terms directly. A consultant does not negotiate on either party's behalf.

Fees are fixed and disclosed before work starts

Every fee is agreed in writing before any work begins. No consultant fee is calculated as a percentage of the sale price or of the practice's income.

No consultant accepts a fee, commission, referral payment or other benefit from anyone other than the party they are engaged by, and any interest they hold in a practice, a buyer or an adviser involved in an engagement is disclosed before the engagement starts.

Confidentiality

No practice is identified to any buyer, and no practice information is released, without the owner's written instruction. Practices are never listed, advertised or circulated.

Documents are exchanged only through the channels named in the engagement: the forms on this site, and the Proxeno address in the engagement letter. Documents are not sent to a consultant's personal address, are not held on personal devices, and are not passed to anyone else without the owner's written instruction.

Readiness first

No engagement proceeds toward buyers before the readiness assessment and the intake are complete. A consultant does not take an owner to market on the strength of a conversation.

Responsiveness

A consultant responds to an owner's first approach within one business day, and to questions during an engagement within two. Where they cannot, they say so and say when they will.

Inside the process

Engagements run inside the Proxeno process and are recorded in it as they progress. Work done outside it is not a Proxeno engagement and is not covered by these standards.

Reporting

After every engagement the consultant provides the outcome data the process requires, whether the sale completed or not.

Admission

Consultants are admitted on relevant experience in general practice operations, professional services or advisory work, after training on the process, and their first engagement runs supervised.

The owner is our client

Owners who come to Proxeno are Proxeno's clients. A consultant is allocated to an engagement and the relationship does not transfer to them.

A consultant does not solicit a Proxeno owner as a client of their own consultancy, during an engagement or after it, and does not continue working with them outside the process once the engagement ends.

Insurance

Every consultant carries their own professional indemnity insurance of at least $1 million per claim and $2 million in the aggregate each year, and public and products liability insurance of at least $10 million per occurrence.

A current certificate is sighted before a consultant is admitted, at the start of each policy year, and on request. No work is allocated to a consultant whose cover has lapsed. Cover is held for two years after they stop taking Proxeno engagements, so a claim about work already done is still covered.