Healthcare

As your medical practice begins to grow, it’s important to ensure that you continue to offer the same level of patient-care. As well as this, the office structure and organisation must evolve. These extra patients also create extra work, stress, and responsibilities on the administrative staff who are now dealing with much more data entry, patient billing, setting up appointments, and more. The processes that were first put in place that worked while you were small may no longer be able to handle your current patient volume.

Here we’ll take a look at some of the most effective ways to streamline the administrative aspects of a growing medical practice.

Use Digital Intake Forms

One of the most time-consuming tasks for administrative staff is dealing with intake forms. These forms are traditionally filled out by the patient when they arrive at the office, and before they see the doctor. These forms can often end up slowing down the entire schedule for the day, and even creating a bottleneck effect. Because they can’t be ignored, it comes down to finding a more efficient way to get the forms filled out.

You may want to consider using digital intake forms that are emailed to patients in advance of their appointment. Make sure the form is fast and easy to fill out, and then it can automatically be returned to you. This is also a great time to send any specific instructions to the patient before their appointment.

Invest in the Right Medical Software

Another place you can focus on is the medical software your practice uses. Choosing the right type of software doesn’t just mean the office will be more organised; it can also streamline a number of processes. It can help to speed things up, give access to data to those who need it, and allow for accurate record keeping.

If you’re looking for practical medical software, it’s a good idea to look into the practice management software available through MedicalDirector. This practical medical software is able to speed up the turnaround time in the office, which means administrative staff have more time to focus on other responsibilities. It also does a great job at eliminating workflow inefficiencies. Some of the specific tasks it can handle include such things as managing the schedule, automating patient appointment reminders, and reducing the number of patient no-shows.

Send Appointment Reminders

The abovementioned software makes use of this extremely important streamlining tool, which is to send patient appointment reminders. Patients who show up late, at the wrong time, or don’t show up at all can throw off the entire schedule for the day, thereby affecting the entire workflow. By simply sending out an appointment reminder in advance, you can drastically reduce the number of times this issue occurs.

While your focus may be on growing your medical practice and getting more patients, it’s important to remember how this affects the administrative staff and how you can ensure things continue to run in a streamlined and efficient manner.