Time is an incredibly precious resource, and when you’re running a business, time is also money. But those of us in private medical practice have to juggle some different considerations than say, a retail business. We are dealing with people and their health, which is a very personal, important responsibility. Let’s take a look at some ways to improve patient workflow that honors and dignifies the patient as well as optimizing your physician and staff’s time...which is a win-win!
Learn what your peak times (and days) are. Just as restaurants prepare for the lunch crowd, figure out when your practice is historically most busy, and go from there. When you have identified peak times, consider bringing on a part-time physician or office staff to increase access, service, and efficiency for those Monday mornings (or whenever busy time happens to be). This means patients won’t have to wait as long, and it’s a great opportunity to network with other physicians and get help when needed.
Shorten or stagger break times. Cutting some downtime (what’s that?!?) out of the workday is probably not a tip that most people will jump for, and it will probably take a little bit of selling to your employees and staff. But the reality is that you’ll be able to serve a couple more patients, which benefits both them and you. Conversely, consider staggering lunch and break times instead of shortening them, or only having shortened breaks during peak days.
Utilize wait time for patients. The vast majority of the time, patients will be in the waiting room for at least 5-10 minutes. Use this time to have them write down their concerns or any points for discussion. This allows the patient and medical staff to use the actual appointment time wisely. This time can also be used to square away any amounts past due, or to go over the details of a patient’s account with them.
Get help with physician’s notes. Consider using a scribe to jot down notes during appointments so that providers can see more patients in a given period of time. Not only will this save time, but it puts an extra set of eyes on a patient’s chart, and thus provides an additional opportunity to catch mistakes. Given the recent ICD-10 transition, this will also help the entire staff get familiar with the new codes.
Running a private medical practice efficiently enables physicians to offer excellent patient care, as well as succeed financially. Improving patient workflow through the four tips above recognizes the importance of everyone’s time: the provider, the staff, and the patient. What techniques has your practice implemented to improve patient workflow? Tell us in the comments!
