Your Style of practicing medicine dictates your patient per hour rate, your Natural Rate. That rate is what should be used to determine the operational systems, staffing model and space your practice needs.
Due to rising construction costs it makes sense to stay open during renovations. See the case study of how one practice accomplished this.
Whether you are an integrated health system or a private practice, rising operating costs, changes in reimbursement and healthcare reform (however it ends up being structured)?is affecting your bottom line.
Improved practice flow may lead to greater productivity, better and more efficient patient care, and more opportunity for you to enjoy the practice of medicine.
This is the final installment in a three-part series of articles examining the front office, tech station, and doctor exam portions of a patient?s visit.
This article is the second of a three-part series of examining the front office, tech station and doctor exam portions of a patient's visit.
In our roles as advisors (new word for consultants), we are hired to identify problems and offer solutions. This is the first of a three-part series of articles examining the front office, pre-exam/tech work-up, and doctor-exam portions of a patient?s visit.
Ever been white water rafting? You?re floating along a brisk river admiring the beautiful scenery. There is a lot of water flowing, but it is calm. Then all of a sudden there are rapids.
The thought of going through the process to establish a new facility sends chills down many doctors and administrators? spines. Either they have never gone through it and only heard horror stories, or they themselves have vivid memories of how difficult it was.
Some days run smoothly. Others seem to get worse by the minute, leaving you one hour, maybe two hours, behind schedule.
The secret to delivery of more efficient care may lie in office set-up and staff utilization.
You have a thriving clinical dermatology practice but would like to add a service that would allow the practice to earn additional income without adding another doctor.
In today's healthcare environment your ophthalmic facility has to be many things. It has to be high volume, but not seem like the patient is being herded like cattle.
You have been in your practice facility for many years. It has served you well, but recently things are not working as in the past. What is different? Has the practice grown in providers and/or patient volume (hopefully)?
In part one of this two-part series we discussed how to analyze your current facility to determine if it effectively supports you and your physician team seeing patients at their natural rate.
Webster's Dictionary defines communication as the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.
It's tempting to assume that 'less is more' but sometimes less really is less. Overburdening your staff will cause inefficiencies, both financial and clinical.
Style, Staff, Systems, and Space all determine the efficiency and productivity of a practice. How does yours measure up?
Boston , MA | Booth # 2374
Denver, CO | Booth # 18
Conversations with the Experts, Academy Resource Center booth 1408 - Day / Time TBD
Chicago, IL | Booth # 3903
How To Increase Patient Volume in the Space You Have! | Course # 216 10/19 @ 11am CT
Los Angeles, CA
Orlando, FL
Practice Flow Solutions will complete our planning documents and then hand off our work to your architect of record. We prefer to get your architect involved in the process earlier in the project so that you can take advantage of your entire team. Our goal is make sure you have the best project that will allow your practice to be as productive as possible. After we complete our work we are available for calls related to our work and your practice flow.
You want to get the biggest bang for your buck. We believe this means using your dollars for upgraded finishes and design elements in places that will also act as visual cues for your patients to help them move through your practice. For example, the check-out desk should have special ceiling and finishes that will allow it to stand out from the rest of the practice.
We offer a Plan Review service that in conjunction with a Space Needs Assessment will allow us to inform you of any problems with the practice flow in the floor plan that was designed by others. This service can help avoid long term problems that will cost your practice money in initial construction and lost patient visits every day. Please contact us if you are interested in more details about the Plan Review service.
No two medical practices are alike, so it makes sense that the space needs of each practice are also unique. Practice Flow Solutions Space Needs Assessment will help you determine exactly how much space your practice needs so that you can confidently find the right building or land to create your practice. This service also allows us to get a firm understand of how you see patients now and how to better that in your new practice space.
The design/architect that you hire will be the most important decision you will make to the success of your project. You want to make sure that your design team has experience with your type of specialty. Healthcare or Medical design is a very alluring market for architectural firms. They may claim to have experience, but few truly have more than a handful of projects they have worked on. The designers/architects of Practice Flow Solutions have over 38 years of experience working with all aspects of medical design.
Do not choose your designer on price alone. The decisions that your designer makes will determine the cost of your overall project and determine if you will be able to see patients in a profitable manner in your new facility. You will pay more for your built-in cabinets and furniture than you will for your architect and those items will not help you see any more patients.
You will want to have an architect that does not require you to pay travel expenses during the construction phases. This is where Practice Flow Solutions practice planning services can allow you to take advantage of our in depth medical design experience and still let you work with a local architect. We will design the practice plans and guide your local architect to help you get the best project for the best price.
Although some organizations promote this it cannot be more from the truth. From our experience, every doctor has their own rate of seeing patients. Some are slower, some are faster the important thing is to understand what each doctors’ potential is in your practice. Practice Flow Solutions’ Practice Flow Assessment will identify your doctors’ true potential. We use our PracticeWatch software to track ever step your doctors make to determine what rate they can see patients if all aspects of Practice Flow is maximized.
Most practice underestimate the amount of space they need for their practice based on the amount of space they already have. This can easily happen when a practice has outgrown and overcrowded their current office and do not realize that adding 1,000 square feet of space may only compensate for the current overcrowded situation. Another common problem is confusion over the difference between the amount of usable area they will occupy versus the amount of area they will be charged for rent. The rental area will be the net area of the practice multiplied by a factor for common spaces in the building.
The proper process would be to identify the needs of your practice with careful thought into future growth based on your practices true ability to see patients. Practice Flow Solutions Practice Flow Assessment and Space Needs Assessment will help guide your practice into understanding the true amount of space or land that your practice requires.
We have heard many managers say the quickest way to lose your job is to undertake a building project and EMR at the same time. If you are going to wait until a period of time after you move into your new practice to implement EMR you will have to have a game plan to do it successfully. In most cases this means planning for chart space in the new practice that can be turned into scanning, training space or business office functions. We have also situated the chart room so that it can be turned into a new service space such as an aesthetics room in a dermatology practice when the practice goes live with the EMR.
Our Practice Flow Assessment is an on-site service that can benefit organizations that need help with patient, staff and doctor flow problems. While at the practice we will make observation and give specific solutions on how to correct flow problems. Our advisors have worked with many large organizations, such as university and hospitals, to help with specific departments that were experiencing problems with productivity and bottle necks on providing efficient patient services.