These
days, to run a successful medical practice, it is important to take into due
consideration several other factors. Mentioned below are some key areas that
are in need of your dire attention.
Make
sure that you seamlessly incorporate these for booming results:
Undertake Customer Service as a
Part of Effective Marketing and Promotion
To
glean in more revenue for your practice it is essential to be welcoming and
patient- focused as these are the pillars towards creating your shop window.
When
people step into you practice, the first person they will come across is the
receptionist. Now, it is very important that the receptionist has a warm and
welcoming aura and the layout of the practice room is well planned and
inviting. If these factors are on point, there are increased chances that
people will register with your practice.
Meeting,
greeting and addressing the patients who enter is the key to establishing
connect. If the receptionist is seen busy on calls or taking up administrative
jobs at the desk before speaking to the patients, there are chances of losing potential
customers and the income they are likely to bring to your practice.
Practices
that are known to achieve top patient feedback have one receptionist employed
solely for the purpose of meeting and greeting while admin and telephonic
duties are taken to the back office. In case of busy practice programmes, you
can call in patient reference group members who can support the meet and greet
process to further enhance the overall patient experience.
Visitors,
who are not patients - for instance pharmaceutical representatives or
non-medical contractors, should not be given priority above patients at the
desk.
Make
sure that your services are made public and the new ones are actively promoted
within the practice and by means of the local media and key patient groups and
national outlets such as the NHS
Choices.
Many
practices have resorted to using social media platforms such as Twitter and
Facebook to endorse news and services. These practices are looking out for
additional innovative methods to send information to the hard-to-reach-groups
frequently through patient reference group volunteers.
Medical Reports and Fees
It
can be beneficial for practices to produce medical reports and handle the
administrative process efficiently. Reports that are maintained are to be of
the highest quality to warrant repeat business and value for money for the
patient or organisation. You can also employ practical steps to further improve
the efficiency of the process.
A
member of the staff, preferably the practice medical secretary who is in charge
of typing out all the reports, should be responsible for logging these items in
and out.
Medical Examinations
The
entire practice team, including all the nurses and in certain cases the
doctors, plays an important role in securing booking of appointments for
medicals. These comprise medicals for insurance, employment and driving,
postnatal, leisure and insurance.
If
errors are committed, they are likely to be costly to the practice. Convincing
the doctors to work overtime to deliver these are guaranteed to reap dividends
– as will ensuring the efficiency of the process, timely deliverance and
quality of the work done. If the team fails to offer convenient and quick
appointments from a simple phone call, then business income can be easily lost
and local competitors will gain an upperhand.
Expenses Resulting from the
Practice – Good House Keeping
Every
effort dedicated towards eliminating waste, cutting down unnecessary phone
calls, curtailing gas/electricity bills or saving staff cost by covering for an
absent colleague will prove to be invaluable in your quest to maintain
profitability.
Get
your staff involved in considering practice expenses by way staff suggestion
box or reward scheme could be introduced instead.
Releasing Clinical and
Administrative Time through the System
Doctors and practice nurses should chiefly be involved
in clinical rather than administrative procedures. Similarly, the clinical
caseload needs requires assessment throughout the system to ensure protection
of proficiency for complex cases for more senior staff.
The appointment of healthcare assistants can reduce
the number of simple medical procedures being done by experienced GPs and
practice nurses. Smoking cessation, asthma checks, phlebotomy, vaccinations and
the likes, can all be performed by trained healthcare assistants. General
health advice and simple procedures such as blood-pressure checks can also be
done by healthcare assistants. This is likely to back up QOF
target achievement.
Examine all areas of practice activity to free up
administrative time so as to allow doctors and nurses more time with patients.
Effective summarisation and establishment of clear templates for audit and QOF
purposes will cut down administrative time for clinicians.
Waiting Room Initiation
Practices are increasingly utilising their waiting
rooms to a good extent so as to generate additional income. One can consider
placing coffee machines and payphones within the practice, but additionally
boards for advertisements, sponsored videos, pictures and floral displays are
also worth considering.
Practices in some areas have also gone to the length
of setting up fruit stalls and free vending machines
in London to support health promotion. Again, your staff or
your patient reference group can be in charge for this area of practice
activity.
These are just a few examples of the role of practice
staff in maintaining profitability. Other aspects such as reviewing of
insurance contracts, premises leases, rent and rate arrangements and so on will
also affect income generation.
Finally, investing in practice team’s training and
their input in making the business efficient is essential to ensure financial
success. Time invested towards team development, especially on training for
profitability and financial flows will generate dividends for the practice
business.
