The first step to “working less and achieving more” is changing the conventional mindset of: “the more time I put in, the more successful I will be.” CREATING EFFICIENT SYSTEMS Remember that systems are designed to make things easier and more efficient, first, for the business and second, for you, the doctor. The first step in creating an efficient system is to keep in mind your target au-dience. This will always be the patient. Your systems should ultimately make patient visits turn into experiences . When things happen easily and run smoothly, it creates a positive experience for the pa-tient and indirectly helps your business. START WITH THE BASICS A business has four core elements: book-ing, billing, collecting, and a team con-cept. You need these four areas to run like clockwork in order to have a viable business. Booking Patients Making things easy for your patients is essential. Everyone likes options, so, one thing you can do to make things easier for your patients is to give them options when it comes to booking their appointments. These days, there are five ways a patient can request an appointment: online; by e-mail; via text message; through social media; or in the conventional way by telephone. When you give the patient these various options, it takes some of the pressure for bookings off your front-end staff and gives your patients a way to book appointments that works for them. When it comes to rebooking patients, it is vital that there is smooth communication between you and your front desk staff. In order to keep the flow moving smoothly, you shouldn’t need to disrupt the process of going from one patient to the next by having to stop at the front desk. Routing slips or electronic messages make this ex-change between you and your staff quick and easy. A routing slip is a piece of paper inserted into the file at the end of each visit informing the front desk what treatment was done, the amount the patient owes, and when the doctor needs to see the pa-tient again. Slipping one into the patient’s file will allow you to communicate with your staff without disrupting your own flow. Similarly, if you use a paperless fil-ing system, sending an electronic message Three Ingredients for a Passionate Staff 1. Autonomy: A self-directing freedom When you, as an employer, allow your co-workers auton-omy, it speaks volumes about your faith in their ability – this promotes confidence and pride within those individuals. No one wants to be micro-managed by their employer, and in or-der to follow the “work less, make more” mantra, you yourself do not want to be a micro-manager. Have faith in your staff and fellow health professionals – they may make the occa-sional error but they will learn from it and become better for it. 2. Effort: A conscious exertion of their power Allow your staff to become involved in work that is im-portant to the clinic’s function and success. Train staff to bill insurance companies, collect funds from patients and process paperwork so you do not have to do it yourself. Educate your associate chiropractors to clinically assess using the system you use and help them to improve their treatment skills. Al-lowing your staff to become stimulated by meaningful work makes their job more gratifying to them, and they will, in turn, actually feel more important within your organization. 3. Reward: A satisfying return, or result Rewarding good work is the final ingredient that creates a positive feedback loop of business operational success. Pay-ing your staff well is only the first small step towards rec-ognizing them for their work. You must create incentives and benefits within their position, in order to make yours a unique and valuable place of employment. For example, I provide my associate chiropractors and therapists with annual education stipends. My clinic pro-vides them with $500-$1,000 per year to spend on further -ing their education and manual skills. To my support staff, I offer a set number of paid sick days per year. However, there is incentive to stay healthy and go to work because at the end of the year, they are paid for the number of sick days they did not use. And lastly, do not let the accomplishments of your staff go unnoticed by their co-workers. Praise and recognize the good work of others at staff meetings or through company e-mail. www.canadianchiropractor.ca CANADiAN CHiROPRACTOR | FEBRUARY 2013 • 9
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