Everyone has his fair share of medical practice horrors. From filling out lengthy patient forms to misplaced medical transcription, clinics and hospitals are losing clients due to inefficient administrative processes.
Identify your current processes
To improve patient traffic in your practice, you need to identify your current flow. How many steps does it take before a patient is seen at the exam room? Are the files for medical transcription in an accessible area? Plotting out your current system is helpful because it will show you where exactly you are losing patients, and ultimately, profit. Map out all your processes in a flow chart and see where the blockages lie. Most of the time, the obstacles are easily solved while others require a complete restructure of your system.
Eliminate bottlenecks
As with any business, your practice needs to create value for your patients—from the moment they step out of their cars in the parking lot to having their turn in the exam room. If the process takes longer than the work required (i.e. patient spends more time filling out forms than the actual checkup), then you need to eliminate those hurdles in your workflow.
One of the most common problems is the lack of staff members that can perform other key functions. If this is causing your bottleneck, cross train your staff to execute other related duties so patients do not have to wait for another staff member to step in.
If the hurdle is due to paper work, designate someone who will keep track of the papers that require attention (examples are the medical transcription of a patient’s operation or referral to another physician). If you can, assign a centralized location where all patient data are stored.
Educate staff and patients
With the new workflow, you can expect better patient traffic in your practice. However, the new process will not be successful unless both staff members and patients are aware of the new procedures. Post the flow chart of the new processes at the reception area. This will help new and old patients get acquainted with the new system. Your staff members also need to know the new processes by heart so they can help patients with the transition.
Improving the traffic in your medical office will help you gain more patients. Redesigning your system will take time, but for the satisfaction of your patients (and to get more opportunities for referrals), you need to simplify your processes.
Should you deem the some tasks herculean, consider asking for assistance outside your office. Optimizing outsourced services maybe a bit daunting but delegating some work outside can prove economical and practical in the long run.
Contact TukkoMed today and let us help you boost your clinic’s patient traffic.