Analyze operations to get your office humming again

Practice Pointers. By Karen S. Schechter, AMNews contributor. April 21, 2003.

PRACTICE POINTERS

Answers to questions about the business side of your practice

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Question Our office of four family physicians and one nurse practitioner is profitable and very busy. We appear to be adequately staffed, and most of our employees have been with us for five or more years. In spite of this, I feel as if the operations are disorganized and that perhaps we are leaving money on the table. Whenever I mention this to our office manager, she says that things are working the same way they always have and that while she's open to change, she doesn't want to rock the boat for fear of losing her staff. I am very frustrated and am looking for advice as to how to handle this situation.

Answer This situation is more common than not. The analysis of this problem requires looking at the three main components of any operation: people, process and technology.

First are people. You may have the right number of staff. But the real question is, are they assigned the right tasks, and are they performing to the best of their abilities. So often, people are in a position because they've always been there and it is easier to keep them in a familiar situation. Position descriptions change as processes change, new technology is introduced and as regulatory mandates are issued. The position may have been right for an employee five or 10 years ago, but now it isn't.

For example, if the practice has moved from a manual appointment scheduling system to an automated system, the skill sets required to maintain the latter are different than they were before. The original employee's skill set and capabilities need to be evaluated before assuming that he or she can carry out his or her tasks with a new set of tools.