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Keeping your finger on the pulse of your practice

Practice Pointers. By Karen S. Schechter, amednews contributor. May 16, 2005.

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PRACTICE POINTERS

Answers to questions about the business side of your practice

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Question: I know as the physician owner of my practice it is important to keep a finger on the pulse of what's going on financially and operationally in my office. However, I am so busy with treating patients and the associated paperwork, I don't seem to have time to look at the big picture, much less the day-to-day happenings in my office. Can you recommend any ways to do this?

Answer: You are right to be concerned about this issue. Many times we encounter doctors who do not come to the realization, until it is too late, that they really don't know what goes on in their practices. These situations could be the unexpected departure of an office manager or a key employee, a call from a disgruntled patient or unexpected cash-flow problems.

The reality is that you don't have to spend a lot of time in the financial and operations areas of your practice if you implement the appropriate tools, reports and processes.

There are at least three tools that need to be implemented effectively to maintain (or increase) the profitability of your practice:

• An effective telephone system.
• Sound financial policies.
• An effective practice management/billing system.

Typically, the patient's encounter with the office begins with a phone call. Often, it is the telephone system, not the person answering the call, that causes a patient to become frustrated.

Areas to look at include too many rings before the phone system picks up the call, too many routing options, unclear instructions, and the number of calls that get put into voicemail.