Dissecting the business of a private pediatric practice for the purpose of examining its parts & discourse
We often forget about improving things in our medical practices. We get comfortable and complacent. We often assume, we do a good job, no need to fix what isn't broken. But time and time again, I'm reminded that there is always areas of improvement. I'm also reminded that on occasion, we don't do things as good as I see them in my mind. The problem for many is that because we are so used to doing things the way we've always done them, it is … [Read more...]
Back home we have saying (for those want to know, Caracas Venezuela is home), "you are trying to find the cat's 5th leg." We use the saying when people try really hard to find fault where there is none. In other words, you are looking for the one thing that will be a show stopper - like a 5th leg on a cat - so it will easier for you to defend the status quo. Imagine I'm starting a workout regime and I ask my trainer these questions: Will it … [Read more...]
Last year I bought a new jacket from L.L. Bean. I had only been using it for about month before I found a small tear in it. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the tear happened when I was putting my son's hockey skates on. The blade must have sliced through the fabric. A few weeks later, I was at the L.L. Bean store buying a present. As I was paying, I said to the lady, "… you know, I got this jacket a couple of months ago and this little … [Read more...]
I've worked in various industries. I've worked in the grocery business with Nabisco, airline industry with Continental Airlines, I've consulted for companies in the travel industry, software, and finance industry. One of the things that I've noticed working in all these different places, is that each company I've worked with, has a sentence that starts like this, if only.... The grocery business talks about margins. If only our margins were … [Read more...]
Keeping staff motivated is crucial. But just offering a gift certificate to Starbucks from time to time won't give you sustainable motivation. In a study conducted by Kenneth Kovach of George Mason University, 1,000 employees and 100 of their bosses were asked to list things that they believe motivated employees. Bosses thought employees would be motivated by good wages job security, while employees listed factors such as participating … [Read more...]
Today, we are going to takle a few customer service tips. But these tips are a little different because they come from a mom. That is right. These tips are from a mom of two that has had her share of visits to the pediatricians office. Her name is Deb Beaulieu. And with this post, she gives us some ideas from a parent's perspective, on how we can improve our service. By the way, we are not Deb's pediatrician's office. If it was ours, she … [Read more...]
Simply put, measuring wellness-to-sick ratio estimates the focus a practice has on preventive care. And how can this info help your practice? Data shows that practices that have fewer sick visits to well visits tend to be practices with better financial outcomes. But there are other reasons why measuring sick to well ratios are beneficial to your practice. Practice Management extraodinaire Chip Hart from PCC has some really good reasons as to … [Read more...]
Last summer, I was asked to give a talk at the Physician’s Computer Company Practice Management Conference. Around the same time, I was starting to write a blog post that talked about 101 things to do in your office. I wasn’t sure how to title it yet. PCC’s theme for the conference was “Change” so I decided to title the talk 101 ways to transform your practice and expand the post I was working on into an hour talk. But I also wanted … [Read more...]
I'm happy to see that in this country, we have media outlets that are digging around to find the real truth. Not the fake truth - like some of those other outlets do - but the REAL truth. Now it all makes sense. Enjoy! … [Read more...]
Today, I have another guest post. This time it's from Dr. Suzanne Berman MD, FAAP. Dr. Berman is also a contributor to Survivor Pediatrics. In this post, she gives insight into the real benefit of having a EMR. For example, many docs believe that a EMR will help them chart faster. But as Dr. Berman points out, that is not always true. The real benefit of an EMR isn’t being able to put data in/chart faster – this is great if you can do it … [Read more...]
