Managing Your Practice & Your Business Go Hand in Hand
Running a private practice can be exhausting. Between managing all the day-to-day tasks like patient questions, conducting appointments, and sales to the more cumbersome items like accounting, paying bills and marketing. As a provider you may forget that running a business is how you are in business. Here are a few tips to ensure you and your patients are getting the most out of your time and energy.
Don’t be everything to your patients
Take a break, step back, and focus on what you know: your patients’ medical or mental needs. If a patient has a billing question or a concern on their continued visits to your office let your staff members handle the concerns. If your patients have insurance questions, billing problems, or concerns, let your billing company handle those needs. All they need is the Ponderosa office number (719-638-8844) to get the issue resolved immediately. Your time is worth so much; leave these tedious, time consuming tasks to us!
Be Transparent with your Patients
In a high-tech world, patients are used to having all the answers to their questions with one simple Google search. You need to show them that you know your practice, and your field of expertise, as well as your policies and procedures.
This includes providing them (on your website and when they become a patient) with:
- their financial responsibilities at the time of visit
- how your policies and procedures work.
- the cancellation/late/no show policy you enforce
- when you’re sick/need a personal day policy
Get all of these things in writing and provide it to your patients immediately. Tell them your process up front, communicate with them regularly, and be totally transparent so that there are no surprises.
Communicate in the Modern World
It is estimated that over “205 billion emails are sent a day” by millennials alone. Are a large majority of your clients trying to find or communicate with you via email that you either don’t have set up or don’t use? How much opportunity are you missing in this one communication method alone? Does your phone have texting ability? Do you have a work cell phone? While we don’t recommend you go out and purchase a new phone just to communicate with your clients, there are smartphone apps such as Google Voice that give you the option to “mask” your personal cell number and use a professional business number.
Considering “560 billion text messages are sent daily,” this is a communication method every provider should be utilizing. How about enabling them to schedule an appointment with you online using an inexpensive online tool? The bottom line: communicate with your patients the way they want to communicate with you, and make it easy for them to work with you!
It’s All About Balance
Remember that you are human. Make time to unwind, detach, and relax. Take scheduled time off (whether it’s just the weekends or a vacation.) Don’t overbook appointments or your life. Try to create a work-life balance and remember that while you may work hard, you also deserve to rest hard too. Your patients will understand. Actually, when you return you’ll probably find your patients notice that you are in a better mood and this helps them feel more at ease.
Don’t have a billing company yet? Wish you did? Ponderosa can help. Let us take the task of handling your patient’s bills and all the needs that come with it! Visit www.ponderosabilling.com to find out more.
Source: http://dermatologytimes.modernmedicine.com/dermatology-times/news/5-ways-boost-your-resilience-2018
https://blog.orchestra.one/how-to-run-a-more-effective-practice-53b5288124e0