The Ultimate Guide to Run Your Medical/Dental Practice Successfully in 2022
Medical practices can be summed up as the most promising alternative of the hospitals in today's times. Medical and dental practices have always been focused on right from their inception. The emergence of the practices has readily helped patients from all over the world to cut off their worries of getting indecent healthcare.
Besides, the practices of today are being established near to the patients' residence, which is minimizing the troubles related to the transportation of the patients. Equipped with the most experienced batches of physicians and reinforced with the latest technologies of this era, the medical and dental practices are bringing the best care possible for the patients. So, the 'practices are surely making men perfect'!
Care is the main thing surrounding which the practices, hospitals, clinics, and the whole healthcare industry are based. Therefore, whether it is a medical or dental practice, a clinic, or any other medical facility, it is important that it manages to successfully provide adequate healthcare for the patients. Along with this, as a practice is an organization that is mainly dependent on its revenues, it is essential that it also looks for satisfactory profitability so that it manages to run successfully.
As is everything else, the medical industry is rapidly changing each day with lessening traces of the time and the trends that are passing by. Here a new year is always looked up to as something huge, which might entirely change things for the industry altogether. Now, with the turn of the new year 2022, the practice owners and practice managers would be more eager to keep their practices running successfully than ever. This is why we are here with the ultimate guide that the practice owners of the medical/dental practices need to have in handy in order to run their practices without any worries.
As the medical front office is one of the most important departments of medical practice and the healthcare industry in general, it is important that we start with the front office first.
So, here we go!
Listing the Best Practices for Medical Front Office
The medical front office is not only one of the most crucial segments of practice or any other healthcare unit, it is a major revenue driver for the unit as well. The front office handles the very first interactions with the patients and is therefore crucial in influencing the patient experience. Quality practices adopted by the front offices of the medical/dental practices would certainly help them garner a good reputation, thereby boosting the patient experience to a large extent.
If you are usually tense with the medical front office and wondering what best you can do to ensure the front office of your practice turns into a haven for patient satisfaction, then don't worry. This is because you have just landed on the right page, which will help you stay informed about the best practices that a medical front office can adopt to stay a show-stealer in your practice.
Here is a list of some of the most essential practices a medical front office should implement:
As the first impression is summed up as the last impression in most of the industries, it is true that even in the medical industry this fact stands valid. Therefore, when it comes to the front office area of the practices, it is essential that it needs to be visually pleasant at least if not visually appealing. Located right in front as the very first department for the patients, a medical front office should be spacious, neat, and bright.
The person who sits at the front office is the very first person that a patient interacts with. Therefore he/she, who is sitting at the reception should be well-versed and well-mannered in order to ease the communication processes for the patients along with leaving a great impression.
Fast is the age's call. Along with most other industries, the healthcare industry is also witnessing an increasing need for speed. So, it is important that the front office staff is swift in nature.
Greeting the patients well is an art that the front office of the industries including the medical industry should adopt. Greeting patients politely and answering them is considered to be a wonderful display of hospitality, which your practice should boast of.
Along with improving on the visual aspects and the behavioral aspects, the front office of the medical practices should also be equipped with cutting-edge medical office software and systems to onboard the patients on the go.
As the medical front office if the very first place for patients' interaction, it is important that it sets the right expectations at the very beginning.
The topic of financial policies and insurance often becomes a concern in medical care. However, it shouldn't be a bother later on if financial policies/insurance is clear right as the very first thing.
Patient registration with the help of the online patient appointment facilities and advanced medical office software from GrowPractice can now be assured to run smoothly enough for the benefit of the patients and practices.
Engaging with the patients goes a long way to influence overall patient satisfaction. This is why it is important that a medical front office engages with the patients and directs them to the right path in his/her medical checkup journey.
Positivity is a note that a medical front office can never skip. A positive-looking, well-mannered front office representative of an organization is bound to leave a great impact on the patient's overall outlook and satisfaction.
The front office representative in a medical/dental practice ought to be proactive and helpful for the patients to help them out in case they need anything.
The duties of the front office don't end with the initial onboarding and waiting. This is because after it is done, they also need to follow up with the patients along with sharing with them on-time reminders and texts. This is more than easy now with the HIPAA-compliant two-way texting facility offered by GrowPractice.
These are some surefire ways to ramp up the performance of the medical front office of a medical/dental practice. Now we shall be moving on to the other aspects of the medical practice where the problems arise and how to keep the practice running successfully in the new year.
Some common problems that a Medical/Dental Practice faces!
Whether it is a medical practice or a dental practice, there are numerous issues that bug these organizations from time to time. Here's taking a quick look at some of the usual problems that the practices of today face before checking out the ways on 'how to run a medical office or a clinic successfully and efficiently?'
Rather than putting up decent management, a medical practice is more prone to mismanagement across a range of its departments. Mismanagement is usually seen in the below-mentioned departments of a practice:
1. Billing worries
The billing section can always be visualized as an area of concern that witnesses more wrongs than rights. This is mainly because of the manual billing process used here. According to recent statistics, '80% of all medical bills contain errors'
Besides, the billing section also deals with insurance claims, where it has been seen that around '50% of all Medicare claims are flawed'. Besides, medical billing is tough and incurs numerous losses due to no billing and double-billing, which takes a dig at the practice revenues. Here's where GrowPractice can help with their all-around software solutions for medical offices that are proven to improve the billing processes as well. It has proven to add more than $60,000 in revenues per provider.
2. Medical office woes
A medical office should not only be organized but designed in a way that is fast and efficient, helping the patients, thereby minimizing their worries. The advanced medical office software from GrowPractice promises to minimize the hassles that the patient needs to go through along with cutting down the difficulties of the practice as well.
The leading medical office software provider has managed to reduce phone calls by 70%, claims denials by 15%, helped cut down paperwork by 80%, and marked a 20% increase in collection rates.
3. Management of medical staff
Medical staff are integral to medical practice and they should also be managed properly by a practice manager. Decent management can only exist if the medical staffs are less stressed and this will only happen if the practice adopts the new technologies and practice management software for its process. Besides, medical practice require several medical office staff to just guide the patients the right way in order to boost the patient experience.
4. Distribution of labor
The medical staff should be thorough with all the tasks required of them. They should be briefed on the patient workflow and be advised to help the patients. Embracing the latest medical systems and patient management software goes a long way in ensuring a streamlined distribution of labor.
5. Lack of proper care
Manual labor, billing errors, and mismanagement of office staff surely pose problems but the most crucial part that hugely influences patient satisfaction of the ultimate care. Inexperienced doctors, nurses, and other attendants can also create major problems for practice. Therefore, the practice needs to ensure proper care.
6. Lack of proper follow-up
It is estimated that between 23-34% of the medical appointments are missed in the USA annually. These missed appointments hurt much when it comes to the practice revenues. The U.S. medical industry has discovered an astounding loss of around 150 billion dollars due to missed appointments.
However, this can certainly be better with the help of proper follow-up and reminders. GrowPractice promises to end the gap between patients and practices by offering exclusive options for the practices to remain active 24*7. Along with HIPAA-compliant two-way texting facilities, GrowPractice also helps practices send automated reminders to end patient no-shows. It has already increased patient retention rates by around 48% to date.
Practice revenues are dependent on an array of different factors. However, the lowering of practice revenues means that it is approaching the end of it. Most often the loss of practice revenues are traced to the non-payments and spurious currency. This can well be obliterated with the help of online payments that GrowPractice brings to the practices. Along with significantly increasing the rates of collection, this also cuts off all the hassles associated with manual followups and the loss of time.
Quality employees who are technologically savvy and are experienced and distinguished for their medical work are missing.
Patient satisfaction is the primary thing that the practices of today need to focus on and dropping patient satisfaction can certainly impact the practice negatively.
The overall performance of practices is going down. This should be avoided. For this, it is important that the practice owners and practice managers stay informed about the loopholes of the practices and try to mend them on the go.
Technology is one of the yardsticks of the popularity of a medical service provider. In case a medical care facility lacks the technology required to handle the work they do, it should then consider upgrading its tools and technology. Statistical records reveal that around '80% of the new patients complete online forms before they visit'.
Therefore, if this online facility of filling up appointment forms are not there in your practice, then it is high time you should consider it to attract more patients. Checking out the medical office and patient management software from GrowPractice is one of the quickest and easiest things that you can do. This is because the medical office software manufacturer assure of extending the best practice software to help patients book online appointments, fillup online check-in forms and more.
Bringing in a workflow that is engaging for the patients and not too tiring for the medical staff is difficult but not impossible with the fully customizable workflow that GrowPractice brings for the practices.
No-shows are a plague to the healthcare industry. On average the rate of no-shows received by practices and healthcare units are recorded at around 18.8% globally but that needs to be reduced and it is GrowPractice with whom you can rely upon if you are considering the removal of no-shows.
Along with the advanced systems of online patient bookings, it also extends the faciities of cancelling and rescheduling appointments online, thereby reducing no-shows.
Legal challenges grapple medical care units every now and then. However, following the HIPAA guidelines and enabling two-way texting for the patients as GrowPractice is doing now are some of the essential things that will help practices steer away from legal challenges.
Though these challenges seem quite insurmountable, they can impede the growth of practice only temporarily if the latter has a strong urge to grow and be successful.
What makes a successful medical practice?
Digging into some successful medical practice tips and guides for medical/dental practices!
We can call a medical or dental practice a successful organization if it manages to provide the patient with the care they deserve with exceedingly high patient satisfaction, along with driving profitable revenues throughout.
Now, if you are thinking about successful medical practice tips and guides to run a medical office or a private dental practice successfully in 2022, then stop worrying and simply check the easy tips below:
Go Online
Going online is the key to successful businesses and even when it comes to practice it is evident that you need to choose the online methods over the traditional processes. Going online will have numerous benefits that your practice will eventually experience.
Embrace the latest technology
Technological innovations are necessary to boost the efficiency of your practice. Whether it is the reception area or the doctors' room, the latest equipment and facilities are what needs to be installed in a practice.
Hire experienced doctors, nurses, and staffs
As doctors, nurses and other practice staff directly deal with the patient, it is always important that they are well-trained and professional. This needs to be ensured at your practice as well.
Timely monitor the overall performance
The overall performance of a healthcare unit needs to be monitored after the passage of a couple of weeks or a month. This not only helps the practice keep a track of what is going wrong but also the factors on which it can pivot.
Keep the medical practice clean and organized
A clean and organized medical practice emanates positivity. This helps the patients feel the professional touch that your practice has.
Say Yes to speed
Speed of workflow is essential today with the need for speed everywhere. This is why your practice also needs to set a pace that goes with what's required in modern times to serve the patients duly.
Keep track of your competitors
Every player now is surrounded by competitors who are always planning to drive ahead of them. However, if a practice constantly keeps a track of its competitors, then it surely is a boon!
Boost eco-friendliness
Going eco-friendly is the call of the age. Therefore, your practice shall also adopt eco-friendly ways. This will not only make the practice decline wastes like paper but also lead to providing an added boost to its revenues.
Count on GrowPractice as your dependable companion
If 'how to run a clinic successfully?' is the question you are always facing difficulty dealing with, then GrowPractice is here to deal with your practice worries. A promising medical office, patient management, and practice management software provider, GrowPractice assures to bring a practice all that it needs to grow.
From helping practices schedule online appointments, optimizing patients' workflow, streamlining the patient experience, checking in the patients online, accepting payments via multiple modes to helping them fill out effective online surveys, GrowPractice equips practices with everything.
The advanced software and tools brought by GrowPractice have led to a significant increase in new patient appointments (+8%), improvement in patient retention (48%), reduction in no-shows (89%), increase in collection rates(20%), and increase in patient satisfaction ratings (97%).
So, what are you waiting for? Get set go for GrowPractice to not just run your medical/dental practice successfully in 2022 but grow it effortlessly!
