Why do some doctors produce more in less time than others?  The answer is simple: they train and use their staff properly.

Your staff wants to help you.  They want to feel important.  Most doctors either do not have enough staff or they do not use them wisely.  Doctors love to take charge and just do things themselves.  However, this is not really “taking charge.”  This is an ego problem.  Also, it is a fear problem.  They fear that no one can do the job as well as they can and that, if someone else does it, it will be done wrong.

Let me tell you something.  The more you do, the less money you make.  Why do you go to work?  Don’t just tell me “because you love to help people.”  Sure you love to help others, but you expect to get paid for it in return.  So, wouldn’t it be better to help as many people as possible without feeling exhausted at the end of the day? 

In order to produce more and make more money, you need to:

  1. Have written protocols for each diagnosis that you treat. Following your written protocols will allow you to make more money because every patient will end up having the optimum type of treatment, and thus the optimum result.
  2. Have efficient number of medical assistants who can help you with your notes and treatment.  List all the tasks that the assistant can help you with and empower them to do so.
  3. Train your medical assistants on your protocols, so everything you need for that patient is already set up.  Not having everything all ready to go will slow you down and you might possibly forget to perform a certain diagnostic or treatment procedure.


If you perform a lot of ancillary services, such as radiographs, applying and removing casts, removing sutures, bandage changes, etc., then you might need two medical assistants per doctor.  If you work at a slower pace and you do not wish to see any more patients, then one MA per doctor is probably all you need.  I know doctors that see around 25-30 patients in four hours.  These doctors have two to three MAs assigned to them.  Thus, the patient is getting the proper care and the team is spending enough time with the patient. 

It is a misconception that the doctor has to spend the most time of all the medical team members with the patient.  It is not about the amount of time, but rather the quality of time.  Make sure you still spend the time to educate the patient.  This is what the patient is counting on from the doctor. 

The key here is to make sure you have enough trained staff. 

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