As a healthcare professional, there were probably quite a few things you learned while in medical school. However, while you may have learned how to accurately diagnose and treat a wide variety of health concerns, there’s also a good chance that there are also a few things you didn’t learn. Namely, you may have never been taught how to manage your own business.
Trying to grow your practice can be challenging, especially in today’s digital era. Nevertheless, trying to improve your bottom line without sacrificing the quality of care that you provide to your patients doesn’t have to be an impossible task. By taking a closer look at the way you manage your practice, you can increase your revenue and attract a larger, loyal patient base, too.
Hire the Right Staff
For many patients, their first encounter with your practice will be with your staff. You could be the most qualified, caring doctor in the world, but if your staff are falling short, you may never get the opportunity to introduce yourself to these patients. There’s truly nothing more unappealing to a potential patient than abrupt, hostile, and poorly trained staff.
If you want to maintain your practice, then you absolutely need to have the right staff for the job. Whether they’re technicians or simply front-end receptionists, they need the proper training to handle your patient base correctly. Not only should they be versed on things like HIPAA and EMR, but they also need to have impeccable customer service, too.
Draw in New Patients
Again, your qualifications don’t really carry much weight if you don’t have a reliable patient base. After all, your patients need to know you exist if you want them to come to see you with their health concerns! Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can get your name out there to draw in new patients to your practice.
While print and digital advertising can go a long way in helping you market your practice, don’t underestimate the power of good SEO. An attractive, informative website can do wonders for drawing patients to your practice. Even a social media presence, and consistent engagement with your patients, can be beneficial.
Maintain Your Current Patients
In your quest to get new patients, though, you should never overlook your current ones. Keeping your patient retention high is absolutely essential if you want to continue to grow your practice. Sure, you can get scores of one-off patients, but if they don’t have a good experience at your office, they won’t be returning — and you can be sure they’ll also tell their friends about it, too.
Keeping your patients coming back can be as simple as staying on top of appointment reminders, following up with your patients, and making scheduling a breeze. You also want to make sure you treat your patients with dignity and kindness, and always take note of their feedback, both negative and positive.
Get Paid for Your Work
As much as you love being a doctor, don’t work for free. And, if your practice is like most, most of your patients are not private pay. Getting paid for your work doesn’t have to be difficult, though. It’s important to collect payments, such as copays, immediately after rendering services. You also need to make sure you send bills for outstanding balances, as well.
It’s no secret that many insurance companies pay an appallingly low amount for services rendered, yet many healthcare providers don’t realize they can negotiate insurance contracts to get a higher payout from them. If you find that the payments you’re getting are abysmally small, don’t be afraid to request higher payouts. If you’re too busy, there are companies out there that can do it on your behalf.
Expand Your Scope
Finally, you can help grow your practice and improve your annual revenue by expanding your practice. For instance, if you work in an OB/GYN clinic, you may want to consider bringing in a pediatrician. If you’re an optometrist, it may not be a bad idea to open an optical center inside your clinic.
You just want to make sure that however you do expand, it’s still relevant to your practice. The last thing you want to do is confuse your dental patients by hiring a podiatrist to work alongside you. By allowing other healthcare providers to work for you, you can also reduce your workweek while also still making a nice profit.
Earning more as a healthcare provider is a noble goal and isn’t one you should be ashamed of, especially if you work hard and genuinely care about your patients. By following these five guidelines, you can help ensure your practice, and your revenue, continues to grow year after year.
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