One key factor marks the difference between a medical practice that runs smoothly and efficiently, and one that falls into disorder and chaos: practice management. Doctor, you already know this, whether that’s because your office is one of the efficient ones or it’s drudging through the chaos. You also know that practice management is hard—and it wasn’t on the list of what they taught you in your undergraduate or medical programs.
Your practice isn’t alone in this. Most doctors and their offices struggle with some of the same common management problems. In this blog series, we’re going to cover just three general challenges, and what could help you improve or avoid them.
You Can’t Do It All—So Hold Staff Accountable
Doctor, you can’t do it all. You can’t be a great practitioner for your patients, answer the phones, make sure everyone pays their bills, market your practice well, sell products, and do the other important tasks around the office all at once. That’s why you have staff. You know this, of course, but here’s the thing: if your staff isn’t really doing their job the way they should, your office suffers.
You have to hold your staff accountable. You should have protocols and procedures in place that you’ve trained them to follow. Your staff isn’t perfect, however. They’ll have times when they aren’t keeping up, or don’t follow through, or just plain forget about what they should be doing. When this happens, you have to hold your staff accountable.
No doctor likes feeling like “bad guy.” Being firm with staff who are not keeping up can be tough. The problem is that, if you let issues slide and don’t hold staff accountable for both their own tasks and the general success of your office, your practice won’t run smoothly or efficiently. You lose time and money.
We do understand that implementing the specifics of this accountability is easier said than done, which is why we created the Top Practices Practice Management Institute led by our practice management coaches Tina Del Buono and Dr. Peter Wishnie. With their help, we work with Top Practices members to provide the resources and coaching you need to actually follow through in managing your practice well. You’ve probably seen special guest blogs from them several times. If you’re struggling with managing your practice at all, check out our Top Practices programs to see how you can turn your office completely around. You can request more information by e-mailing [email protected] or calling us directly at (717) 725-2679.
