Practice Efficiencies Yield Patient Goodwill

PHYSICIAN OFFICE PRACTICE EFFICIENCIES YIELD PATIENT GOODWILL AND DOLLARS TO THE BOTTOM LINE

Although we have seen stability in Medicare reimbursements, it does not take an economist to know that reimbursements for medical services will see reductions in the foreseeable future.  The need to give patients a positive experience should always be a priority. Keeping this in mind, you must balance that with the need to run an efficient and productive practice. In this volatile business environment, the experience a patient has in your office-along with how efficient the office runs-will position your medical practice for future success.

Patients expect a limited amount of waiting time in a medical office. Effective patient scheduling is a delicate balancing act: book too many patients and the waits become unacceptably long; book too few appointments and the doctor has idle time between visits-causing productivity to suffer.  In an effort to reduce patient waiting time, some practices have fallen into booking too few appointments.  By booking appointments "realistically," they fall victim to everyday activities:  no shows, last-minute cancellations and late-arrival patients.

This can have a staggering affect on a practice, and practices usually do not understand the magnitude of the financial impact these inefficiencies create.  Delays in the waiting room create frustration and anger among patients. Unhappy patients will typically share their unpleasant experiences with friends, while creating tension and stress for your staff.  Here is a scenario: a typical patient visit yields you $125 for reimbursement of services. A patient has a poor experience with your practice. They go and tell five people about this negative experience and these five prospective patients go elsewhere. If those five prospective patients are lost, this poor experience costs the practice more than $600!  If you have one unhappy patient every week (and they tell five people), that one dissatisfied patient can end up costing the practice $625 weekly or $31,250 annually!

Let's discuss the intangible costs: your staff is dealing with unhappy patients, you have a full waiting room, and your staff is becoming overly stressed.  The amount of anxiety created by patients can cause your staff to make errors, lose forms, and this creates poor attitudes throughout the office. Now we have the front desk employees frazzled, the billing department frustrated, and the physicians frustrated (along with the already frustrated patients).  Running a medical practice in this day of managed care is challenging enough; add in the intensity created by a delayed waiting room and mistakes are bound to happen-mistakes that will cost the practice bottom line profits. 

Here are some tips to help mitigate some of the backlog and patient waiting time:

Don't overbook the doctor's schedule

Too often we see doctors that have 6-7 patients booked every hour, and time slots are double-booked.  Why do this?  If you are that busy, look to book some of these patients with your associates whose schedule may not be as booked as yours.  We often hear that patients only want to see a specific doctor, but the staff needs to be honest with patients and explain that the schedule is full. If a patient has a choice to wait a month to see Doctor #1, or can see Doctor #2 today, they will often make the decision to see Doctor #2. Your team should explain that all of the doctors work together and show the patient the practice's dedication to serving them.

Keep open slots in your schedule

We don't like to see practices turn away cash payers or individuals with good reimbursement plans/insurance companies. Being overbooked can adversely affect physicians, forcing practices to turn patients away. As you fill your schedule, you want to say, "What can we do to work smart and build a practice with a strong payer mix of insurance carriers, yielding the greatest return on investment from our physician's time?" By leaving slots open in your schedule, this gives the practice the ability to slide the right patients in at the right time.

Healthcare is a business and as an industry will see tremendous growth in the years to come.  Physician practices need to begin to run their practices as efficient businesses to enable themselves to capitalize on the many opportunities that lie ahead. Building a solid office operation, running smoothly and efficiently, will not only yield additional profits to the bottom line, but will make your patient experience the best it can be. You want your patients to discuss the quality of care versus wait time or the rudeness of the overbooked office staff. Building solid practice efficiencies can help create a better overall experience and generate tremendous patient goodwill.

For more information regarding practice efficiencies, please feel free to contact John Pellitteri, Partner & Healthcare Niche Practice Leader at (516) 336-2470 or via e-mail at jpellitteri@grassicpas.com.