Reducing Wait Times

Another part of the patient experience is how long the patient has to wait before they actually see you (the doctor). I know some people feel that good services are worth waiting for but not if the wait is for hours. If you have your patients wait long every visit they will leave your practice and go down the street to another practice that gets the job done faster. Today's patient wants their doctors to be fast and thorough. If you’re in a practice with a high wait time it’s time for you to analyze your patient flow because there is something internally that isn't connecting. Could it be a lack of communication? It may be time to implement a wait time playbook. Find out what is causing the wait time and come up with strategies to reduce wait times.

 An area to look at when dealing with wait times, is scheduling. (Some Questions to consider) Are you being overbooked? Do some of your appointment times need to be extended? Are you spending way too much time with patients? 
Emergencies do happen and there are times you cannot predict wait times but you can create distractions. When I say distractions I simply mean ways to keep patients mind off of having to wait. Some of these distractions include Wi-fi; your computer savvy patients may need to check emails or create reports, which can keep their mind off of their wait. Having an open Wi-Fi access will help them do other things while waiting. TV is also another distraction and can be great for pediatric patients. Many offices now offer complimentary coffee and snacks this can be used as a distraction but this area needs to be maintained and cleaned. You have staff do not be afraid to utilize them.

How are you reducing your wait times?

2016 Medical Practice Marketing Goals

2016 is finally here now its time to make sure you have all your marketing goals in order for the first quarter. A lot of practices and facilities that I have worked with in a past have always struggled with goal setting. Many times they have goals but their goals are not specific.

Broad Goal Example: I want to grow my practice.
Specific Goal Example:I want to have 1000 patients for the month of January.

Whenever setting goals you want to make sure your goals are specific  Being specific helps you come up with a better action plan to achieve your goals. In the broad goal example above there are so many ways to grow a practice. The broad goal isn't measurable. With the specific goal you have clarity on what it is you are trying to achieve.

Here are some specific goal examples to help you on your marketing journey:

• Sell 2000 pairs of glasses for the month of Janaury
• Get 10 referrals per month
• Increase revenues by 20 percent
• 10 likes on Facebook per week
• Get new pediatric patients

2 ways to grow your healthcare practice

Out of every field I have worked in I must say I have learned the most from working in Healthcare. I have worked with and for practices that have been very successful, I have worked with practices who struggled their way to success, and I have worked with practices that have just failed miserably. It always made me wonder why some practices failed and why others succeeded. So being the inquisitive person that I am I started to analyze what was working for the successful practices and what was not working for the unsuccessful practices. Two things I realized were identity and growth.

Identity

When I started to compare Practice Successful to Practice Failure I quickly noticed identity. Practice Successful knew who they were. They knew exactly who they were servicing and why they were in business. Everyone at Practice Successful knew what the  practice mission and vision statements were all about and displayed this to their patients daily. Practice Failure struggled tremendously because they did not know who they were and that was easily translated to their patients. If you don't know who you are how can your patients?

Growth

Growth is essential in every area of business if your business is not growing its probably not really a business anymore. With that being said its important to grow your employees. If you grow your employees they will grow your business. Investing in your employees gives them a chance to grow and expand which will then in return grow your business. The more they know the more they can add to your practice. It’s harder to retain employees if you aren't offering your employees some type of personal development. People like to grow and if you won’t allow them this opportunity they will look for someone who will.

For more information on the laws of business check out my new book on Amazon. 

The 10 Laws of Business: An Entrepreneurs Guide to Success. 

Branding Tips for Doctors

If someone walked in your practice or healthcare facility and asked you or your staff to describe your brand in five seconds or less, could you or your staff answer? After working with many practices I have realized that many practices don't know who they are. When a practice does not know who they are this is easily translated to their patients. If your website states your practice is friendly, then when a patient walks into your doors your staff needs to be friendly. Patients are NOT loyal what your office staff won't do another office will do it.

A lot of healthcare practices struggle heavily on the internet. On a website you will see one thing and then on their social media pages you will see an entirely different company. Every platform you are on needs to portray the same message. Another thing I notice with some facilities is that they have all these social media pages but its not being updated. Whats the point in having a Facebook page or Twitter page and your information or posts are two years old?

Tips for Branding

First of all what is branding? Branding is the process of identifying and differentiating your practice from other practices. Its a promise that you make to your patients. Its what makes you unique.

Tip #1 Know your brand

You may think you know what your brand is but if your staff was asked would they have the same answer as you? If you asked your patients about your brand what would they say? Think of it this way, what is your promise to your patients?  What makes your practice different from others? What is the purpose of your practice?

Tip #2 Be who you say you are

If your promise is to provide excellent healthcare then everything your practice does should represent excellence. Your staff needs to be excellent at all times if not this makes your brand very inconsistent.

Tip #3 Be consistent

If you have a website make sure its updated regularly. Patients are tech savvy now a days and they take notice to everything. Your website represents you and on some occasions your website is the first impression of your practice.