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Twenty-One Simple New Year’s Resolutions That Can Enhance Your Practice

12/02/2015

Did you know that the origin of the New Year’s resolution started some 4,000 years ago in Babylon when the people thought making promises to gods would provide them with a favorable new year in return? When the tradition migrated to the Western Hemisphere, it evolved into promises of self-improvement, overall well-being or as a motivator for behavioral upgrade.

It was all very well meaning but to this date, not particularly successful. Some common reasons for failure are setting unrealistic goals (35 percent), not monitoring progress (33 percent) or just plain not following through with the promise (23 percent).¹ About one in 10 respondents claimed they simply made too many resolutions.

Now we are about to enter into another new year. Can you beat those odds and develop realistic goals for your practice? This may mean improving patient relations with more focused customer service or developing better management strategies. Do you need to address adherence issues more carefully? Does the sudden decline in efficiency and productivity need immediate attention?

Here is a list of things you can do that do not require a degree in rocket science, a huge budget or even a lot of energy. All you need is just a little commitment to change. Print the list, share it with your staff and together highlight at least three of them that you all agree are doable. One of them could be just the New Year’s resolution that makes a constructive difference.

When in doubt about a certain action your staff is about to take, ask them, “If this were your practice, would you do this/spend this/behave this way?”
Be your patient’s eyes. Make it a point to sit in your reception or treatment room to see what your patients see. What changes are needed?
Make HIPAA or OSHA an item for discussion on your staff meeting agenda, and document this as ongoing learning.
Frame each staff member’s photo and bio, and hang them in the reception room. Patients appreciate learning about the staff as well as the doctors in the practice.
Use cheat (check-off) sheets to prevent staff and doctor(s) from omitting recommended services/products according to your protocol. In fact, check-off sheets in general are great tools to boost better outcomes.
Make a surgery gift bag that includes post-op instructions, their “next appointment” card, microwave popcorn, a crossword puzzle, a free movie rental card, (sugar-free) candy, etc. and give it to your surgical patients. Get creative.
Keep $10 gift cards on hand to give to patients to brighten their day if it is their birthday, if they have to wait long, or if their appointment is repeatedly rescheduled.
Instead of a postcard to thank a patient for their referral, make an effort to send a personalized note card.
Improve patient adherence by having patients repeat “at-home” instructions (prescriptions, exercise, post-op care, re-dressings, orthotics, etc.) to you before they leave the office to ensure they fully understand.
Don’t handle mail more than once. Use routing slips for items received in the mail with check-off boxes for appropriate action and forwards.
Create a surgical flow sheet with pre-op, scheduling, pre-certification info as well as verification of dates and times to be certain you have not overlooked any details.
Review your router slip regularly (annually) and make necessary changes to stay current.
Try to refrain from calling your router slip a “SUPER bill!” What patient wants to receive a super bill?
Take potential hires to lunch and observe how they treat “service” people. Chances are they will treat your patients similarly.
Create action plans for potential emergencies (fire, medical, accident, weather, robbery, computer crash, belligerent patient). This is Crisis Management 101.
Housekeeping is everyone’s responsibility. Set an example by cleaning something yourself.
Email “Welcome to our Practice” letters to your new patients with a link to your website in your P.S.
Get personalized business cards for staff with their names and the doctor’s/practice name on them. Staff are much more likely to hand “their” cards out than yours. It is a marketing no-brainer.
Use a “wait list” to refill empty time slots in your schedule.
Align employee start-up wages to written job descriptions and increase these according to employee performance. It encourages a fair pay scale and eliminates wage discrepancy issues.
When updating patient information, instead of asking, “has anything changed?”, reaffirm patient contact info, address, insurance, etc. at each visit by asking, “Do you still live at…?” and “Is your phone # ___?”