Truly comprehensive care that is offered to every patient, regardless of the changing circumstances that can occur in a practice on any given day is a foundational strategy that makes everything else possible. In other words, even if a staff member is absent, or the practice is very busy, your systems and protocols are followed every time by everyone including you. To accomplish this strategy, your practice must be committed to established management systems (both clinical and non-clinical).
Everything that is done in your office, from reception to exit must be scripted according to established systems and protocols. Every staff member must be trained and regularly retrained on the systems and protocols that they use in their practice. It takes time to think these through and implement, and it takes a commitment to training that is not common in most podiatry practices, but the alternative is to practice in a less structured way and this lack of organization reduces your ability to practice comprehensively exponentially. Revenues and profits can precipitously drop and your ability to truly practice comprehensively is greatly diminished. This means that the first Keystone strategy for your success in the future is compromised and your ability to thrive in the new environment is also compromised. Without systems, you are already crashed and burning on the tarmac even though you might not really see it for several years.
These systems can be reviewed and implemented over time (it is impossible to change everything at once) and may take 18 to 24 months to complete. They key is to start and to move as quickly as possible to completion and then move on to the next system. But the Big Payoff is that once you have this in place (remember IT TAKES TIME TO DO THIS -Slight Edge) then you stop being stressed about them and you only have to manage the protocol -are we following it? Training on it? Watching our numbers on it? This THIS! is when managing a practice is ACTUALLY ENJOYABLE.
Next week we’ll be hitting the next two supporting strategies of Comprehensiveness of Care: Networking with other successful practices and integrating ancillary services.
