It Takes Teamwork To Make The Dream Work, Especially In A Medical Practice

It has ben said that: ?

No Man or Woman is an island, so the success of your medical practice is the direct reflection of your staff selection, setting achievable goals with clear job descriptions and measuring performance to give each job position accountability for results and outcomes.?

Every staff member is part of the revenue cycle in a practice. From the Front Desk, Patient Care Coordinator, Nurse Practitioner, Practice Manager, or Physician Assistant, each person is a Profit Center within their own department or job assignment. How you treat them and how valuable they feel will determine your success. If you have high staff turnover, it could be because the role of each staff member has not been clearly defined.?

Key Members Of Your Team

Practice Manager:

The role of the Practice Manager is to monitor, measure, and motivate, but most importantly to keep an internal review and handle the revenue trends within the practice. By doing so, you keep the doctor(s) abreast of all the areas which might be showing a decline. Additionally, if a department is underperforming you and the doctor(s) can develop a clear strategy. You will need to identify a few areas of concern.? Does the staff lack proper resources, information, training, or is there a true commitment to doing their job correctly? What are the closure rates for new patients, leads to consults, consults to booked procedures, and income from procedures performed? Once this is determined, you can go about the work of improvement.

Patient Care Coordinator:

The role of the Patient Care Coordinator is to respond quickly to all incoming inquiries. Typically within 24 to 48 hours via phone or email correspondence. They must be up to date on and be able to clearly explain what each service is that is being provided in your practice. Consumers are much more informed today and will not accept haphazard explanations from a Patient Care Coordinator. Once the PCC makes contact with a new prospect, their next task is to convert that prospect into a consult which in turn becomes a paying patient! If your Patient Care Coordinator has a conversion rate of 55% or lower, then it's typically a matter of preparation, or has no true sales experience. Selling the doctor's skill and quality of care as well as the overall practice experience is what wins the day. Do not get bogged down with price shoppers… They tend to take up the most time and are likely to give a bad review if you don't give them what they want.?

Front Desk Coordinator/ Receptionist:?

Your Front Desk Coordinator/Receptionist is often the least paid position in a doctor's office, but has the biggest impact on the practice! If you pay low, expect to attract low skill, and generally, you'll have a high turnover in this position which in turn affects patient care and continuity. The Front Desk staff must be friendly, knowledgeable of all procedures, and most importantly be professional in speaking and appearance. Especially if it's working in a cosmetic or aesthetic plastic surgery practice, they should look the part! After all, it is the beauty business, and that's what should be presented when new patient prospects arrive in your practice. This position is often the first contact with new patients at your practice. And because you only get one chance to make a first impression, put your best foot forward by presenting a highly skilled and qualified staff member at the front desk!?

Three Ring Rule!!!

Typically in most practices, the phone is either the enemy or your best friend. In truth, it is the lifeblood of your entire practice. If the phone doesn't ring your connection to new patient prospects and current clients goes away and so does your revenue. One of the first things I teach in my consulting program is the Three Ring Rule. If the phone is on the second ring, everyone who is not performing an essential service should stop what they are doing and respond to the call. Additionally, having too many Random Voice Announcements for customers to work through increases the likelihood they will go elsewhere. People prefer to talk to real people, that's why they called... You can't form a relationship with voice mail!

How adept is your practice in using the latest technologies in new customer outreach like Social Media?

The idea is to create a wonderful patient experience from the beginning to the end. Today's patients due to the internet and social media are the most educated in history and have high expectations, especially after they complete their research on what your competition is offering down the street or around the corner from you. Your call handling skills can often set the tone from the outset.?

Now that we have each role defined within the practice, let's go back to How To Measure and Monitor Team Impact

If you're not generating enough leads to make the correct number of consults, look to marketing. You'll either need to redefine your approach or raise the budget to improve the lead volume. If you're not generating enough sales from the scheduled consults or you have a high number of cancellations and no-shows, take a look at your Lead Source Quality and your Patient Care Coordinator. Additionally, listen to the call quality of your Front Desk/Receptionist and Patient Care Coordinator.?

Place your goals on a Whiteboard within the Practice Managers' office and by departments. Have a weekly staff review on how much to goal each department is to their goal which contributes to the company goals. Again, make it fun by creating a contest around department performance, a certain amount of employee competition can be healthy for a practice. If a department is behind the goal, the practice manager's job is to find out what additional tools may be needed to help the staff get where the goal is set. Plan your work, and work your plan!?

Every month the staff should have a goal related to income creation. Part of that income creation is tied to the previous things we discussed:

How many new patient leads have arrived via phone or email?

How many consults have converted as a result of the leads?

How many sales have resulted from the consults scheduled??

What is the end result financially?

Things You Want To Do For Growth?

You want to ensure your staff stays up on the latest technologies and innovations that have the potential to drive additional revenues. You should also plan strategies with your staff for the normal off-peak business cycles, where business starts to slow downward each year.?

Speaking to your staff about the financial health of the practice in which they work is critical to getting their help to regain your financial footing and profitability. Treat your staff well, make the office a fun place to work, and truly care about the patients who pay for your services.?

Getting the help of your staff in times of trouble will be easy. Some doctors frown on this because they believe that employees who know how much money the practice makes, will then ask for more money for themselves. In truth, they just might, but wouldn't they have a right to ask for more salary if they helped you create extra income when the numbers were down? What would be wrong with helping them, as they have helped you? Hiding your numbers won't help.

With the help of your team and shared values there can be a reward for all!?

It’s smart to share practice shortfalls with your team so that a strategy can be developed by each department or team member to improve organizational results. You might want to do away with some services that take a lot of time, but generate very little income. If you have an excess amount of product inventory, or several lasers that are just collecting dust and you're still making payments? Set goals, and make it fun by creating a contest for bonuses like paid time off on Fridays creating a three day weekend.? Or provide quarterly bonuses based on how the practice revenue is compared to goals listed for the quarter.??

Talking to your staff about goals related to monthly specials, up-sell services, special offers related to laser and lightsource technology treatments, these things can easily increase your average dollar per transaction , it can also help you to unload that excess inventory.? Lastly you'll get the most possible revenue from stagnant machines that are just sitting around in the office taking up space.?

Lastly, you can't get what you want, unless you help enough other people get what they want!

It Takes Teamwork To Make The Dream Work, Especially In A Medical Practice?