In this series I’m taking a close look at the six most common obstacles to successful private practice management. This time, I’m reviewing the two most common roadblocks.
Roadblock One: The absence of a cyclical calendar of events and promotions
Every office should have a detailed, comprehensive calendar of events and promotions. Simple, periodic in-office themes, events really can grow your practice at an incredible clip, especially in today’s super saturated social media environment. This should be a core system. We’ve talked about this at length in other articles as well.
The competitive nature of today’s private practice makes this tool mandatory. A calendar enables both the staff and the doctor to know exactly what is expected on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, providing everyone with the info necessary to effectively execute your plan, and allowing everyone to keep an eye on progress toward short and long-term goals.
A calendar system can be created from something as simple as pencil on paper or a shared app or enote.
It may take a little effort on the front end to develop an all-inclusive calendar for your practice, but the good news is that once this is effectively developed, the calendar can be used as a template year after year.
Roadblock Two: Haphazard hiring practices
Many doctors encounter, or more accurately, create roadblocks related to hiring practices and staffing. Conducting hiring in a haphazard way is a recipe for absolute disaster. Prior to beginning the hiring process, you must have a compliant, protective system in place, designed to ensure you find and hire only the best candidate(s).
First put all this in writing so that you and your team know what is expected before you begin. If you really need help with this, spend the money and hire a consultant (me as I have helped set up many practices over thirty plus years).
Before you ever roll this out BE SURE an attorney familiar with your state laws is on board and has reviewed all your forms, and your employment ads as well!
Your hiring process should include requirements like performing background checks and screening references. Doctors who choose to skip these steps, to save time and hire quickly, are inviting potential chaos into their offices. Failing to appropriately screen candidates can also create expensive and potential heavy duty legal problems you never want.
Your procedures should also require that potential new hires go through skills some basic testing, for example:
• rapid keyboarding skills
• computer literacy
• filing ability
• spelling and basic reading comprehension (I’m deadly serious)
You should also check for the ability to effectively communicate verbally and in writing and talk to previous employers about the candidate’s time management skills.
Remember, it is your responsibility to your existing team members to make sure that any new employees you bring onto the team have the inherent capacity to contribute to the success of the team as your practice grows and expands.
Do not hire a future problem. Ensure that you are hiring help for your team by creating good hiring procedures and adhering to them.
In the next article, we’ll explore the other key areas and what you can do to make things go smoothly, and enjoyable.