Innovations That Can Make Doctors’ Offices More Efficient

Medical practice management can make or break a medical practice. That is why it is important to have in place the ideal medical practice model. With the help of an experienced medical practice consultancy that has an established track record of helping practices reach goals, that model is within reach. Once it is achieved, the practice can run more efficiently and that means better patient satisfaction and a staff that is able to draw more job satisfaction.

Common Challenges Practices Face

Physician offices tend to face a great number of challenges. Sometimes they are shorthanded and have to place a higher workload on the existing staff. Patients can be demanding at times and there are cost efficiency issues that constantly need addressed. This doesn’t even factor in the technological changes under meaningful use that come about. For instance, ICD-10 will be going into effect in 2015 so that the United States is in compliance in the realm of medical coding. A lot of work has been put into ICD-10 and the effect that it will have on accurate reporting so that monetary losses can be minimized. Any time that there are monetary losses, the damage is passed to patients in the way of high medical costs. ICD-10 is one piece of the puzzle to slow down increasing medical costs.

Nonetheless, the challenges that physicians and their staff face are significant and they are always looking for ways to make it better. By consulting with professionals, steps can be taken to make the workflow smoother. Combined with some of the new technologies out there that are designed to help medical practices become more efficient, there is hope for the private practice needing better solutions.

Challenges Patients Face

On the patient side of matters, patients face a number of challenges as well. It is fair to look at inefficiency in a practice as something that trickles down to every level of the pyramid, ending with the patient.

Patients have complained that their doctors are not spending adequate time with them. Sometimes this has to do with matters within the practice preventing the physician from making better use of their time. In some areas around the country, there are doctors offering shared appointments for people who have similar conditions. They do this to make better use of their time and, of course, they do so with the approval of the patients sharing the appointments. In some cases, this has made the patients feel more educated about what is happening with them and allowed the physician to spend more time with them.

Nonetheless, not every patient wants to share their time with other people. Instead, they want their time to be private because they may have highly personal questions. This is perfectly fine and it is the traditional way in which patients receive their medical care. The good news is that there are ways to improve medical practice management so that patients feel valued by their doctors rather than just a way to make some money.

Examples of Better Efficiency

The following are some examples of the different elements that may exist within the ideal medical practice model:
•    Point-of-care tests so that specimens do not have to be sent to a lab, causing the patient to have to wait. This also cuts down on unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and saves time. It also saves the patient a great deal of anxiety.
•    Electronically managed waiting lists to simplify filling appointments cancelled with short notice. It can also ensure that patients are followed up with so they can reschedule their cancelled appointments.
•    Software or processes that simplify the patient referral process so that information can be seamlessly shared between physicians.
•    Automating certain tasks that don’t require the expertise of a doctor, such as the refilling of some types of prescription medications.
•    Applications that make point of care medical research much more searchable and fast. This enables physicians to give their patients answers much quicker than they would otherwise.
•    Some answering services are now designed to better determine which calls need to be forwarded to a doctor’s mobile phone, which makes it easier for a doctor to determine the correct answer for the patient.

Of course, these are just some of the ways in which medical practices have achieved the ideal medical practice model…and they work.

 

If you are ready to become more efficient by establishing the ideal medical practice model, MD Pro Solutions can help you. Call us at 508-946-1665 or fill out our contact form today.