While physician interactions drive a practice’s profitability, an integral web of medical assistants, RNs, front desk and customer service coordinators, and accounts billable professionals are utilized to facilitate patient retention and profits.
These tasks that the staff is responsible for should be the priority when looking to enhance productivity by increasing the efficiency of their completion or removing the work altogether through automation or outside assistance.
Here are four essential steps to building a more productive staff and practice.
- Understand the goal and how to measure progress.
To successfully boost productivity, it is vital to understand what should be measured; what does a “productive” practice mean? It is important to measure productivity through traditional Key Performance Indicators like revenue, but it is also essential to track employee-related metrics, such as turnover and retention. Tracking employee-related metrics through tools such as employee surveys can allow leaders to understand potential employee burnout and other risks.
An owner’s workforce is their most precious resource, as it can be expensive and difficult to replace. To safeguard this resource, any systems put into place to boost productivity should measure and help maintain a healthy work-life balance. While increasing productivity is essential for any business’s bottom line, it should always be based on a people-first approach to ensure long-term, sustainable success.
2. Review job duties to ensure that employees are practicing to the level of their license.
Physician-owned practices succeed in part because of the indisputable amount of dedication and diligence from their owners. This can sometimes lead to physicians being too integrated in all aspects of the business and working on tasks beyond patient care. This reduces the efficiency of the entire business.
To avoid this, owners should ensure employees understand their job responsibilities and establish trust in their expertise. This can be done regularly over time through transparent and constructive one-on-one and department meetings.
When employees understand their direct role and the roles of the rest of the team, owners can spend time focusing on big-picture progress and patient care.
3. Utilize automation in your daily practices
EHR systems are ubiquitous in physician practices, but there is often an opportunity to unlock functionality in these systems to optimize processes further. Taking a deep dive into current workflows in EHRs can help to highlight extra steps in the process and isolate role-specific work. Workflows within the EHR can then be redesigned around current employee roles.
Client reminders regarding upcoming appointments, scheduling and new patient forms should also be automated to further reduce time coordinating and sending patient-facing notifications. Scheduling and check-in tools can be quickly incorporated into a practice’s current systems to enable the gathering of accurate patient data, save additional time at the front desk and bolster patient loyalty by providing a low-effort and timely experience.
4. Integrate third-party professionals
Outsourcing tasks to freelance health care professionals who may work from home or remotely is an optimal option for furthering productivity on a tighter budget. They can execute specialized or repetitive tasks that are bogging down the full-time, in-office staff. Also, third-party health care professionals tend to be a more affordable option, as they don’t require full-time benefits or office space, and their hours can be flexible according to the ebb and flow of patients.
As demand in the industry continues to grow and businesses are looking to increase their profit margin, a consulting agency is another great tool to consider. These agencies can develop personalized plans to increase productivity. They are optimal partners as they take the burden of implementing these plans off the owners, mitigating potential setbacks and ensuring long-term success.
