Owning and effectively running a medical practice is no easy feat. Owning and operating a business, in general, isn’t.
The healthcare industry is known to be plagued with problems like lack of effective phone call handling, difficult collections processes, and time management issues.
As an agency, we attend exclusive industry events, seminars, and info sessions to bring you the best of the best in healthcare management consulting. Our sponsored practices see a rise in patient count and revenue due to the application of our best practices for success that can be applied to any practice.
In this article, we will go through some of the most common problems that we feel will have an impact on the market in 2018, as well as some ways to fix them.
To own, or not to own?
The age-old question. Do you go remaining employed by a large organization like a hospital or do you pursue your professional independence? The problem with this question is the lack of a “right” answer.
Both no doubt have their perks, but which is right for you?
For some, joining a large hospital system offers safety and security from the problems of the outside world. Competition can drive some small practices into failure. The stress of never knowing where your next patient is coming from can cause harm to your personal life.
For others, independence is the only thing that keeps them sane. Being an employee just isn’t in some peoples’ DNA.
Some healthcare professionals returning to private practice ownership because compensation and budget in their hospitals are dwindling. Healthcare system changes and large conglomerate competition has caused these changes in some privately-owned hospitals. This is happening more and more in the local markets as healthcare giants grow in power and acquire more property.
These are all the things you are going to need to ask yourself. No matter how many seminars we attend, we are never going to be able to answer this question for you. This is something you need to find in yourself.
Both paths can be incredibly rewarding in their own way. The choice is yours! If you choose to own privately, you don’t have to go it alone. Professional healthcare practice consultants stand ready to assist you with the new challenges you will face each day.
Quality Control
We aren’t talking about the drugs you prescribe, we are referring to the quality of your staffing. Medical practices suffer a unique set of challenges when it comes to effective training and managing of staff. For medical practices, you should keep these few things in mind:
Phone calls make or break businesses
The way your staff answers the phone and treat patients is paramount. Your patients and prospects understand that you are busy, especially as an owner and lead operator. Your employees, on the other hand, are not too busy. They are there to answer the phones, set appointments, and keep patient records in order and on hand.
Teaching employees to effectively manage phone calls will lead to better retention, customer acquisition, and revenue. Your staff is the first line of defense as well as your sales and retention team. Making sure they understand this and feel passionate about doing a good job depends on your management strategies, compensations, and office morale.
How to maintain loyal employees
Having a great staff ready to help you at any time doesn’t come without any participation on your part. If you want to maintain loyal employees, you are going to have to give put forth some effort. No-one ever said it was easy!
If you are experiencing a high level of employees leaving with no apparent reason, it might be time to critique the work environment you and your staff have created. The problem usually stems from financial reasons or the workload you are putting on your staff. If either is too low or too high, you will begin to experience unhappiness in the workplace and eventually staff members deciding to move on.
Your staff is a living, breathing, organism just like your patients. Take good care of it, listen to its concerns, and act accordingly. If you keep these things in mind, you will never run into issues.
Medical staffing solutions for practice owners
There are options for help with medical staffing. You don’t have to go it alone. Be aware of the resources available to you. The Caduceus Group can effectively hire, train, manage, and even outsource hospital staff and phones when needed. If your agency isn’t offering you these options, shop around!
Patient Satisfaction
“The customer is always right” cliché carries over to owning your medical practice, too.
Patients have the power to dictate what “good healthcare” is. Social sediment platforms like Yelp and Glassdoor have brought that statement to a new level of truth in the modern business environment.
Online reputation management for medical professionals
Keeping your reputation clean day-to-day can be a challenge. Keeping your online reputation free of blemishes is a new challenge in medical marketing that will only become more challenging in 2018 and beyond. Reputation management can be a full-time job.
The stakes are high when it comes to patient health. If they feel there was some misconduct or unfairness throughout the course of treatment, they will voice their concerns more quickly than the customers of any other “product” available. Articles that become irrelevant over time can still hurt your reputation as time goes on. Having these effectively managed is a must if you want to maximize your online conversions.
Key takeaways
Owning a medical practice is no easy feat. Plenty try, plenty succeed, and plenty fail with the best intentions at heart.
If you need help along the way, dont be afraid to seek it. Having a team to help you in your infant stages will help you to learn from mistakes you dont have to make yourself and last for the long term. Putting ego aside and asking for help when you need it is the difference between successful business owners and proud, yet unsuccessful ones.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please get in touch with us any time!
