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Analyze patient flow to help increase patient volume
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When deciding to increase patient volume, realize that this goal will not be achieved either overnight or simply by adding slots to the schedule. Rather, this is a process that is best achieved with planned, incremental steps.
When you explain your goal of more patients to your staff, expect naysayers and staff who are resistant to change. You should welcome their input but hold your ground. Acknowledge that you will be examining your own role as well as theirs.
Develop a plan that should include an analysis of current patient flow.
- Perform a time study including all processes involved in patient throughput from check-in to check-out. Keep in mind that any process that takes longer than national benchmarks may indicate a system that is outdated or that the person performing the task needs additional training.
- Evaluate the precise steps performed during an exam to help eliminate redundancies. Remove unnecessary steps, combine patient forms as feasible, and make sure that information gathered by a technician is not being repeated by the provider.
- Are your technicians performing in an efficient manner and providing you with consistent and reliable information?
- Are tests being performed on an as-needed basis or are they scheduled? Does your staffing ratio include people to do these tests as needed?
- Walk through the office as though you were the patient. Take notice of the distance you walk and if you are retracing your steps.
- Evaluate provider time efficiency too. Are you doing your own documentation? Consider using a scribe. Are you ready when the patients are? How much time is spent educating patients about their condition? Are you doing all of the education, or can some of this be turned over to a knowledgeable staff person?
Once you take incremental steps to change your current processes, analyze the schedule. See if the bottlenecks are due to multiple new patients booked simultaneously or add-ons that are booked in the middle of a session. Add patients at those times when the waiting room is empty, before more deeply overhauling your current scheduling templates.
Change of this magnitude is not easy and takes time. Develop a stepwise plan with incremental goals. Consider this a project that needs buy-in from everyone; ultimately, there should be an increase in the bottom line and a decrease in staff and provider stress levels.
- Jane T. Shuman, COT, COE, OCS, is president and founder of Eyetechs Inc., a nationally recognized authority on clinical flow, scheduling and technician education. During her earlier work as an ophthalmic technician and clinical manager, Ms. Shuman saw firsthand the important issues confronting today’s busy eyecare practice. Drawing on these experiences, she now helps client practices. She can be reached at (617) 429-6155; jshuman@eyetechs.com; www.eyetechs.com.