It doesn’t matter what type of medical business you have, there are usually similar obstacles that hold your practice back. Between wait times, being understaffed, and lacking infrastructure, there are so many ways that your practice can suffer. Whether you are in dentistry, pediatric care, or plastic surgery, there are a few methods to make your practice more efficient and create the ability to take on more clients.
Your capability to take on more clients provides revenue in multiple ways, but if you simply don’t have the time to see more patients it can feel quite far away. Whether you are struggling to make more money to grow your practice or need to expand to meet the demand that you already have, there are all kinds of methods and resources to streamline your operation. Below are some of your options to grow and take on more patients, clients, or customers.
Start with Administration
The administration of your practice is instrumental to your ability to take on new clients. How is your administrative staff? Are they doing a good job? Can they work harder or do more? When it comes to administration, you have plenty of options. One is to hire a new administrator or team of administrators. Sometimes the administrative staff is slacking off, but it can be hard to know what they aren’t doing or are doing wrong.
Another option you have is to outsource your admin needs to a company that specializes in it. You can outsource administrative needs to someone off-site, but they probably have multiple clients. However, these companies make administration their entire business model, using all kinds of resources and tools to streamline what they do so that you never have complaints.
Finally, a third option is to employ technology to automate administrative tasks like artificial intelligence (AI) to perform your administrative tasks. For example, chatbots can answer questions online at any time of day quickly and provide resources that send the person in the right direction. Whatever you decide to do about administration, if your schedule isn’t full on certain days or you find the scheduling to be random you should think about ways to optimize your administrative work so that you can handle more clients.
Cut Down on Wait Times
Not only do the patients hate to wait in your lobby, it is actually affecting your practice more than it is impacting them. The wait time is representative of the fact that you could be working with this patient while another is still inside. The administration has an effect on this, but it isn’t the only thing impacting how many clients you are taking.
Do you have enough staff on site? How is the size of your practice? Could you use more people working and more space? Furthermore, you should move people who are late to another time. The person who is in the room should be seen first. In addition, you should also do a better job accounting for the time each appointment will take. If you can more accurately know when to schedule patients, wait times will go down and the amount of people you are able to see on a given day increases. Think about whether your staff, infrastructure, or operation is holding you back and make efforts to fix it.
Ask the Patient to Fill Out Online Forms Ahead of Time
When a patient makes an appointment, you should have them fill out the information that you need online ahead of time. No one wants to fill out forms in the office, and it takes longer to do so. This is an antiquated method of. When the patient calls to make an appointment, you can ask them to fill out forms that you have available online. If the person doesn’t do it, a few days before the appointment you should ask them to do it again when the administration calls to remind them about the appointment. If this is done ahead of time, you will be able to see more patients.
Use Software Available to You
These days, there is no shortage of medical software that you can use to optimize your practice. Administrative software is one thing, but you can go a step further. Software applications like OPUL provide a way for you to build relationships with your patients while offering the best care possible. With the ability to create memberships and use the data OPUL provides, you can increase your revenue, grow the business, and build relationships based on loyalty and successful treatments. Whether you’re a dentist or a plastic surgeon, this type of software can be very helpful to you in many ways.
Utilize Telemedicine
Finally, some of the patients you see in the office can be treated online. Whatever you are seeing the patient for, if it can be done over video conference there is no reason not to use telemedicine. Telemedicine eliminates the need for patients to come in many situations. Not only is it faster, but it’s also a lot cheaper for clients. You can even do these calls at home. Depending on the case, the situation, and the person, using telemedicine when you can will eliminate the need for the person to come in, helping them get the attention they need while freeing up some of your time. [However, before implementing telemedicine in your practice, you must familiarize yourself with telehealth licensure requirements. Each state has its regulations, and ensuring compliance is essential. Be sure to research and understand the licensure requirements specific to your location before offering services to your clients. It will help you provide efficient and legally compliant care while expanding your client base.
While the ability to take on more patients is central to the growth of your practice, it can be very difficult to do. You don’t want to skimp on the quality of your treatment, but there are logistics, administrative hurdles, and unnecessary obstacles that get in the way. The ideal way to solve these problems is to find out what is holding you back and change it. If you are trying to take on more clients, you should start by considering the above ways to streamline your practice, see more patients, and grow your operation. With more clients, customers, and patients, you will be able to expand your business and live a more comfortable life.
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