In total, these health centers offer services to over 25 million people annually. A huge impact on areas that desperately need medical care.
In total, these health centers offer services to over 25 million people annually. A huge impact on areas that desperately need medical care.
In total, these health centers offer services to over 25 million people annually. A huge impact on areas that desperately need medical care.
Almost all business owners are continually searching for new ways to save money, and health centers are no different. Trimming areas of excess spending, or finding new efficient ways to complete tasks, not only cut unnecessary expenses, but it also pads your bottom line. Even the smallest changes can multiply to impactful saving. So, where do you start? How can you begin reducing expenses and improve profitability? Check out these five tips that will assist you on your quest to reduce costs.
Investing in newer, more efficient technology now, can pay off for years to come. Including robust software programs that can help automate tasks. Computers that run faster, thereby increasing completion times of projects. To even replacing the old refrigerator you use in the breakroom, with an energy-efficient model. Combined, each one of these changes can add up.
An intern program not only benefits your practice, but it also helps students learn real-world skills. These skills can lead to landing jobs in their chosen field of study. Beyond giving a career boost to students, an internship program can reduce your payroll costs. You can utilize your interns for a myriad of tasks, from managing your social media accounts to helping with patient contact. Additionally, a standout intern may eventually become a standout full-time employee.
The search for new employees can be costly. Not only in money but in time as well. Finding the right fit for your health center is vital for production and work culture. So, invest in your hiring process and ensure you make an offer to the right person. Because trying again is expensive and stressful. Also, if you put forth a good effort in hiring a great employee, make sure you use their skillset. When you fail to leverage your employees’ talents, it hurts your bottom line and can also slow their career growth.
In some cases, you can avoid the hiring process altogether, by outsourcing. A talented and experienced outsourcing partner can help you finish complicated tasks that many of your employees may find too time-consuming. Additionally, they can offer expertise in intricate areas for a fraction of the cost when compared to hiring a full-time employee to complete the same project.
Just because the local office supply store is offering a good price on pens, it doesn’t mean you have to buy them by the cases. Become efficient when purchasing items for your office. Furthermore, consider finding new sources that will provide better prices and free shipping. So, remember, stocking up on paperclips isn’t necessary. Because rarely is there a shortage of office supplies.
Admit it. You’re now inspired to save some cash. It’s time to start becoming more efficient and cut your expenses. Your bottom line will improve and so will our revenue outlook.
Today, we have an abundance of technological advantages that put people ahead. The modern generations are raised with the internet and mini computers in their hands, with access to thousands upon thousands of research and data. How many times have you seen a patient that has one issue, but worsened by something else because “the internet said they had such and such a disease?” It happens. As more and more technological advances make their way into society, it’s important to ask yourself if you and your practice are ready to adapt? Are you ready to answer questions backed by self-interpreted online research? How can you adapt? What can you do with all this new technology? There are many things, such as…
Patient portals. These are probably one of the biggest steps an office can take when adopting technology into their workspaces. These portals give the patients one-hundred percent (100%) access to their medical files the moment they are logged into the shared system. This cuts out the need for a patient to look up a symptom and make conclusions of their own, because they can e-mail the doctor directly with questions or to set up an appointment.
Telemedicine. This one is more beneficial for patients who aren’t able to get to the doctor in person. Telemedicine is when a doctor can call or video chat a patient and make evaluations, diagnoses, and offer treatments at a distance.
Shared networks. Something as simple as a prescription used to take extra time before there was a way to digitally send it to the pharmacy. Most doctors now have the ability to sit in the same room with a patient, talk about a medication, and send in a request to your chosen pharmacy in a flash. There’s no more gripping onto the piece of paper, trying to read the notorious “doctor handwriting”. Having a shared network is also easy when making referrals; they can also be done in a second, rather than burdening an administrator with phone calls that took away precious time from other patients.
Technology’s advancements don’t have to be a burden for medical professionals; utilize it to make your practice run more smoothly and efficiently!
Health centers and medical practices store a plethora of sensitive patient information. So, it’s no surprise that healthcare facilities are the number one target for hackers. Healthcare experienced upwards of 3 times more cyberattacks than any other industry (Cisco). Ignoring this threat is not a wise choice. If you still aren’t convinced that you need to check, and then recheck, your security protocols, here are seven more statistical examples of why you need to make this a priority right now.
Hopefully, these stats make it crystal clear that you need to make cybersecurity a top priority at your health center. That’s why at Practice Management we implement security protocols such as penetration testing, data loss detection, and multi-factor authentication. Patient information is too important to leave to chance.
Medical practices are beginning to discover the benefits of social media. According to the Pew Research Center, 74% of adults aged 18-49 are using social networking sites (SNS) and it is growing rapidly. For medical practices, it is a great way to not only reach potential patients but also keep in touch with current ones by providing updates on how to use social media to improve your medical practice.
So, what if you’re new to social media? Where do you begin? Well, this guide should help medical practices who want to add social media marketing to their medical practice.
Why do medical practices use social media?
The most obvious answer to this question is to increase your patient base. That’s true but let’s look at a couple more reasons:
First social media can be used to reach your patients. In the medical world, this means reaching mom’s around town with children who have asthma or kids who are in daycare because they’ll be more likely to trust your medical advice knowing you’re just like them.
Another reason is for online reputation management. Consumers are turning to online reviews prior to making buying decisions. The same goes for the medical arena as well.
How important is getting ahead of reputation management by being proactive? Well, medical practices with websites rank higher in search engine results than those without. That goes for social media as well.
However, before we look at each individual social media platform, understand social media is more than just a Facebook page or Twitter account, it is having an active and engaging medical presence on various social media platforms. It includes things like medical blogs, forums posts, reviews, and ratings. Doctors and medical practices need to make sure that they’re not just creating profiles for the sake of having one but rather are using their medical social media accounts is more than just a means for self-promotion amongst peers. The only way to become an expert in your field is by actually becoming one through experience.
Now let’s delve into the top platforms doctors are using today.
Facebook groups offer another great way to interact. Professional medical associations, for example, can set up medical practice groups that doctors can join. Doctors will be able to discuss medical topics with each other and give advice on medical cases they may have dealt with in the past. These medical practice groups are a great way to form friendships amongst those who share similar medical interests as well as learn from others about new medical practices that you may not know about yet.
LinkedIn is the more professional version of Facebook. LinkedIn medical groups are great ways for doctors to share their experiences, knowledge, and updates about medical practices with others in their field across the world.
Twitter is a powerful medical marketing tool that can connect those in the medical industry as well as create new leads. If individuals find your tweets valuable and interesting they will follow and retweet them which will eventually lead to increased exposure for your medical practice business page and website through followers sharing links on their feeds or retweets appearing on their timelines.
Instagram is a great visual tool for your medical marketing. It’s the perfect medium to show off your practice’s human side. Obviously, sticking with topics that won’t violate privacy laws is vital, but the visual appeal of Instagram can be a fun, and informative way, to connect with other medical professionals, and patients.
One way to help create the narrative online when someone searches for your practice is by keeping up with your Google My Business section. This includes medical practices’ hours, contact information, website, and reviews (you need to be reactive and show you care).
Register with medical practice directories. This will help potential clients connect with you more easily as well as improve your search engine visibility through the links to your site.
Regardless of how you decide to leverage social media, ensure that you post informative and engaging content. Keep the social, in social media!
Doctors are often too busy to take care of themselves. They work long hours, and when they finally have some free time, they don’t know how to relax. This can lead to burnout or fatigue that can affect their performance. In this post, we will discuss why doctors need to take time for themselves and the importance of relaxation in order to stay healthy.
A systemic review of surveys and interventions from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand suggests that providing doctors with opportunities to take time for themselves is correlated with better health outcomes.
Many options exist for a doctor looking to relax! Some examples include: taking walks, partaking in a hobby, meditation, and other exercises.
Let’s take a close look at the benefits of walking — many think walking isn’t as beneficial as other, more intensive exercises but they’d be wrong.
A study in the British Medical Journal found that people who walk as little as 30 minutes a day live longer and have a more balanced outlook. Walking is also effective at reducing stress levels, lowering the risk of depression, and improving overall productivity. This makes it an excellent way to unwind.
When not taking a walk, or if walking isn’t your speed, why not try a new hobby. Cooking is a great way to relax and unwind. This allows doctors the chance to focus on something other than their work.
A different study found that spending time with friends can also reduce stress levels by more than 50%. What’s better? The participants in this study were able to decrease their blood pressure.
And even doing something simple like putting together a puzzle can make a world of difference. Research has found that doing a puzzle, or completing a Sudoku, decreases the level of stress hormones in your body.
How about meditation? This ancient practice has been shown to reduce stress and increase relaxation.
According to a study, meditation can help you fall asleep faster — which is why it can even become part of your routine before bedtime.
Everyone who is still working can benefit from taking time to relax and rejuvenate their mind. These simple activities can help doctors manage their stress levels and ultimately improve patient care!
One last note. Another way to free up time to destress and unwind is delegating. An expert partner can take work off your plate and allow you to focus on core tasks, and yes, provide more moments to take care of yourself.
Whether you are working remotely, or from the office, having a secured computer is essential. This scenario heightens when you are dealing with sensitive medical data like patient records. Leaving your system wide open for a cyber-attack is never an option. But what actions can you take to ensure that your PC is safe from those who want to do harm mainly healthcare hackers? Hopefully, you have IT security experts or a computer administrator that can assist you. However, if you don’t, you may need to take matters into your own hands. Here’s what you can do.
Even a good antivirus program won’t make your computer completely secure from viruses and malware, but having one available is better than nothing. And before committing to one program over another, shop around and be thorough when reading reviews.
Updates to your OS and other software programs can be intrusive. However, they are also necessary in keeping your computer system up-to-date and more secure. If they seem intrusive, schedule updates outside of your busy times to avoid headaches.
We aren’t talking about the files in your file cabinet, although those should be secure too. In this case, encrypting refers to the files on your PC. You don’t have to lock down all information, but encrypt files that contain sensitive information. There are good programs available that can safeguard against unauthorized activity.
Our focus has been on computers, but security doesn’t begin and end with PCs. You have to lock down your smartphones and tablets just like you would your main work system. Remember your security is only as strong as its weakest point. Install antivirus and antimalware on your mobile devices and spoiler alert also consider using a VPN.
Are you completing some of your work in a coffee shop or a café? Then most likely you are using a public Wi-Fi network. Here’s a newsflash: these networks aren’t secure. A virtual private network, or VPN, can help secure your connection when you are accessing a public Wi-Fi router. Again, install the VPN on all your devices you will utilize for work.
Experts are experts for a reason. They know their stuff. If you are storing or accessing, sensitive data then asking for help is probably the best option. Even if your practice or health center lacks this expertise, you may want to consider outsourcing and leaning on a well-educated, experienced opinion. Your clients are worth it.
These six tips aren’t meant to be an all-inclusive guide to completely securing your computer and mobile devices. But they are a good start. It can’t be repeated enough. If you have access to security experts use them.
In the past, one of the biggest challenges in running a medical practice was reducing no-shows. Although it’s still a hurdle, patient appointment reminder systems have taken much of the grunt work out of this critical task. How? Administrative staff would have to call patients to remind them they had an upcoming appointment–manually. And unfortunately, those calls weren’t always successful. Patients would not show up regardless. This whole process cost precious time and money. Thankfully, automatic reminders have come to the rescue and streamlined this practice leading to many benefits to the healthcare industry.
A 2019 study uncovered the impact of patient no-shows, revealing that missed appointments cost the U.S. healthcare system approximately $150 billion per year. Additionally, the cost to a physician was around $200 per unused time slot. Reducing these no-shows is a top priority when it comes to improving a practice’s bottom line. Thankfully, patient reminders have helped mitigate this issue.
One of the key selling points of any automation system is time-saving. When patient reminders are on autopilot, your staff doesn’t have to change their focus to make these calls—saving them time and you money.
Patients want to control how they schedule appointments, regardless of the industry. When you have a system that enables your patients to create, amend, or cancel appointments easily, you will notice an uptick in positive interactions, including within reviews. You want loyal patients, and crafting a better experience can help make that happen.
Hopefully, you are enjoying the benefits of a solid appointment reminder system. If you need to streamline further, we have a solution for your health center or practice. Need billing or credentialing help? Contact us today.
In the ever-changing world of medical billing, keeping up with new rules and regulations seems to be a full-time job on its own. Not to mention the critical part, the billing itself. Focusing too much effort on this area can cause stress and anxiety off the charts. From maintaining an in-house billing team to dealing with a revenue stream far from optimized, it can also hinder your practice’s growth. What is a possible solution? Outsourcing. And when do you know it’s time to consider outsourcing? Well, let’s take a look at a few hints (and maybe a bit more) that you should move your billing to an external expert.
If your staff appears to be running on empty, billing practices may be the culprit. As you know, your employees have to wear many hats to make your practice run like a well-oiled machine. But spreading your workers too thin can lead to low morale and ultimately burnout. Which, unfortunately, can also inspire an uptick in turnover. There’s nothing optimal about administrative strain and additional hiring costs.
Delayed payments are usually a side effect of one particular problem: errors. When claim rejections are on the rise, it’s is a solid sign that your employees are either overworked or in over their heads. Regardless of the reason, declined claims hurt your bottom line.
More time on administrative tasks means less time for taking care of patients. And as we know, patient-centric care is vital in today’s modern medical space. So, if your patient care time is on the decrease, it may be time to investigate your billing practices. If you discover billing issues are dominating your time, look for external help.
If you can relate to any of these scenarios, then finding a quality billing partner is a must. Like us. Explore our services and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Who doesn’t remember the cool show MythBusters where long-held beliefs, myths, and various rumors were put to the scientific test. The premise was straightforward: find out if these crazy theories were true to their word or completely false. Beyond being entertaining, the program also offered a great lesson on the scientific method and the quest to find the truth. And that is exactly what we will try to accomplish in a less formal and less explosive way in the world of outsourcing. We will take on a selection of these myths and finally discover if they are truth or totally busted to be factually incorrect.
Maybe you have thought “Sure I’d love to outsource some of our more menial tasks, but our practice is just way too small.” The idea that outsourcing is exclusive to large operations has persisted for decades and it’s fortunately not true. There are outsourcing solutions for medical practices and companies of all sizes. Don’t be afraid to kick your monotonous jobs to an outside source. Go ahead and discover for yourself, that outsourcing is for everyone.
There is a two-pronged thought when it comes to outsourcing being a cause of job loss. First, many believe that outsourcing means offshoring. This is not the case. There are offshore operations in the outsourcing space, but many are located domestically. Second, getting outside help for your staff doesn’t mean you are going to replace them. Outsourcing is more about optimizing than replacement. Freeing up more time for your current staff, and you, to focus on more pressing matters. Namely for physicians spending more time with patients. This one is busted.
Have you heard that outsourcing places your sensitive data at high risk? Not true. A reputable outsourcing partner holds cybersecurity and data safety in the highest regards. If you find an outsourcing operation that does not clearly outline its protocols on safety, then move on to the next. Make a potential partner prove they use the latest and most effective countermeasures against hackers. There is no need to settle for a firm with lackluster data protection.
Possibly you have read, heard, or even conversed with someone about this subject. The long-held thought that outsourcing is for companies and practices that really don’t care about quality and are more concerned with getting tasks finished. To the contrary. When you find the right partner, you are leveraging experts who can not only finish your tasks more efficiently but effectively as well. Once again, if you are considering an outsourcing firm that doesn’t have strict quality control, then keep looking. When you outsource you should not only be freeing up time but getting higher quality work as well.
Hopefully, after reading through these debunked myths you will be more comfortable partnering with an outsourcing firm. And just think, we didn’t even have to use explosives to prove the point.