7 Tips for Better Medical Practice Management

The healthcare industry has been absolutely swamped over the past couple of years. Many fledgling technologies have taken center stage. Adaptation has proven the name of the game in handling the ongoing healthcare crisis.

If you want to ensure that your medical practice survives and doesn’t lose good people and patients, you need to manage it well. These 7 medical management tips will help you get your healthcare practice on the right track.

  1. Scheduling Efficiency Is Key

If you want to improve your healthcare practice management, start with your scheduling. It’s important to use a system that will hold up to the demands of your practice while remaining realistic. After all, a standard physician can manage around 4 patients per hour, but some may require more time due to special needs.

That’s why online tools are so important. Your customer base will appreciate your office’s online presence. Plus, scheduling programs can offer you special insights. You can use these to close schedule gaps and get a better idea of how many patients move through your practice each day.

  1. Write Prescriptions at the Visit

We’re well into the 21st century at this point. It’s past time that you ditch the pad and pen that your clients have to take to a pharmacist elsewhere in town for something on-site. Or, if you have to send the prescription elsewhere, do so electronically. There’s no excuse not to do that these days, when almost every major pharmacy around has access to a system that can process these orders.

Think about it like this: A patient needs antibiotics to treat their bacterial sinus infection ASAP, not in 3-5 business days. If you can fill this prescription on-site for them, it can only improve your medical management.

One last thing to keep in mind: If your patient needs a re-check in XYZ months, write the prescription for that period. That way, they don’t have to call back and play phone tag with your receptionists and the pharmacy to get their medications filled.

  1. Train Your Staff on the Latest Medical Management Software

Nothing dates your practice quite like technology that hasn’t been used since the early 2000s. We’re well past the advent of the smartphone and tablet. You do not need your nurses and other staff typing things in on office computers that look like they still run on Windows XP.

Upgrading to a better healthcare management program is all well and good. However, you must take the time to train your staff on how to use it, lest they look incompetent.

If your staff doesn’t know how to work the updated technology, it can reflect poorly on your practice as a whole, especially with younger patients. If they can’t even trust their healthcare team to handle a tablet correctly, how can they trust that your team has up-to-date information?

  1. Make the Billing Process Simple

Medical billing in the United States is a complicated process for practice and patients both.

Practices must negotiate with health insurance companies to determine how much, if any, of a visit got covered. Doctors send things off to the lab for testing, which requires its own set of lab billing solutions. Patients work with their insurance companies and negotiate with your billing department to get a fair price.

Don’t be afraid to use medical billing software to help you streamline this process. It will be much faster than relying on your one overworked medical coder, we promise.

  1. Consider Your Office from a Patient’s Perspective

When figuring out how to improve medical practices, it’s important not to forget who the practice is supposed to serve. In the end, no doctor’s office would be able to function without patients. So, to improve your medical management, consider your office from a patient’s perspective.

Is parking easy to manage? Can your patients get into and out of the building with relative ease, regardless of their mobility needs?

This patient’s eye view also applies to things like scheduling, billing, and bedside manner. If patients feel frustrated that they had to wait over an hour to be seen, you may need to adjust scheduling or intake. If they can’t negotiate with the billing department, you may need better coders. If they feel their concerns weren’t listened to by your medical team, they will not return if they have any other options.

  1. Offer Easy Access to Information for Patients

Another way you can improve your medical management practices is to offer easy access to the information patients need the most. If your patient base tends to skew younger, outsourcing your schedule and invoice viewing can reduce the amount of phone calls your receptionists have to manage.

Many healthcare practice apps give your patients ready access to a list of their current prescriptions. This can prevent them from turning to Dr. Google for answers and coming back with misinformation.

Telehealth services are another way to offer the information your patients need at their fingertips. A patient may not feel it’s worth going all the way to your office to answer a simple question about the side effects of their medication. However, they can call someone there for answers.

This improves your relationship with your patients and ensures that they receive the right quality of care.

  1. Don’t Try to Manage Everything Yourself

When you’re just starting out, it’s easy for you to overload yourself with administrative tasks on top of the work you already do. As your practice grows, one of the best healthcare management tips you can follow is simply this: Don’t try to handle everything on your own.

Hire a medical practice administrator to help you handle the constant flow of information.

Let’s Review How You Can Improve Your Medical Management Practices Today

Improving your medical management practices is fairly simple. Just remember: The patients come before all else. Make things as efficient as possible from their perspective. Then, you’ll be able to support your healthcare practice, no matter how large it grows.

If you found this article helpful and would like to learn more management practices, no matter your industry, then check out the Business section of our blog for more.