Five Things You Need to Know Before Growing Your Practice

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Five Things You Need to Know Before Growing Your
Practice Like life, medical practices dont stand
still. You might be looking to change or expand
your practice but might wonder how. To start
thinking of change, you might want to ask
yourself a few questions first. Where are you
and your staff in your careers? Before expanding
your medical practice, youll want to examine
where you and your staff members are in your
careers. Are you or your partners planning to
retire in the next few years? If you are, this
isnt to say that you shouldnt make any changes
to your practice. But you might want to
reconsider any large-scale expansions or drastic
revisions. Thats because if youre early in
your career or in the middle of it, you have the
ability to plan and manage more major changes and
reap their rewards while continuing to work. Or,
if something goes wrong, youll have the ability
to actively work to change and improve any
unsatisfactory situations. Also, if you continue
to work for a while, youll still be receiving
active income to finance any changes you want to
make or expenses you need to cover. Is your
staff eager and equipped for change? Most
medical practices arent one-person operations.
Checking with your staff is important before
making any changes, especially major ones. Are
your employees nervous about any technology
changes or upgrades? Consider paying for
workshops, seminars, or classes that could help
familiarize them with technology, keep their
professional statuses current, or update their
skills in ways that could benefit the entire
practice. When they return, they could help teach
you and your staff. Teaching is particularly
important when youre implementing new software
systems or making other changes. Sharing
knowledge beforehand could
prevent confusion and frustration in the future.
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In addition to education, feedback is also
important when considering office alterations.
Ask your employees which changes could help them
complete their jobs and serve your
patients. During these discussions, you might
find that small tweaks might be more useful than
large revisions. Or staff members want to change
areas of the practice you werent even
considering. It might be a cliché, but here,
its true you might not know something unless
you ask. Is your technology ready to grow with
you? Skills arent the only aspects of your
office operations that might need a little
refreshing. Whats the status of your
technology? Investing in new software or hardware
could make your tasks a little easier or even a
lot easier. Considering what your practice does
and what it wants to do could help you determine
which technology switches or upgrades are right
for you. Are you thinking about opening new
physical locations? Incorporating more
telemedicine into your operations? Both? Treating
patients in-person and online requires different
digital and physical configurations to consider
as well as considerations about the staff members
you may need to handle such duties. Taking your
practice in a new direction might require
different kinds of tools than youve used before.
If you want to start selling products, such as
eyeglasses and contact lenses, youll probably
want to create web pages that describe
them. Youll also want to incorporate digital
solutions that allow you to store and access your
patients eyewear prescriptions, place orders,
track inventory, and handle bills. Maybe youll
also add tools that allow patients to order
eyewear themselves from your website. Updated
technology could help you do all that and
more. Whats your billing situation? Since
patients will be buying eyewear and paying for
appointments and
treatments, your office will need to issue bills
and related documents.
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But as with other aspects of managing medical
practices, billing is not a straightforward
process, or even a single procedure. It often
consists of several steps and several entities
that do different things. For example, some of
your patients may have private health insurance,
some may participate in government-backed
insurance programs, and some may have a
combination of both. Some patients may pay
entirely out- of-pocket, maybe paying on a
sliding scale that your office may offer. Due to
the potential complexity of billing processes and
multiparty participants, technology could once
again assist your office. Software systems could
help you generate the merit-based incentive
payment system (MIPS) reports needed to determine
Medicare payments. Thats because software
solutions allow your practice to integrate
several functions. Theyll integrate your
patients medical records from their electronic
health records (EHRs). Such systems could also
simplify dealings with other insurance providers,
helping practices provide correct information and
submit and track claims. They could also help
practices issue and monitor bills as well as
collect payments. In addition, integrated
software systems could help your office chronicle
the results of these efforts, informing you how
quickly patients paid their bills or if they have
outstanding payments. Knowing these facts could
help you analyze and possibly revise your billing
practices so you could generate revenue that
could help you grow. What are the demographics
of your patients? Electronic tools could also
help you study your patients demographics and
how they relate to your practice. You might be
thinking about opening another office, but you
might not know where. By gathering your patients
addresses in your software system, you could look
for regions where many of them live and think
about opening locations in those areas or nearby
places. Looking at your records also allows you
to check the ages of your patients. Are many of
them young or starting families? If thats the
case, you could steer your practice in ways that
could serve them.
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For eye care practices, hiring an ophthalmologist
or optometrist who has training and experience
working with children and younger people could be
a good start. This professional would work with
the patients you have now and could attract other
people looking for specialized assistance. Knowin
g you have a younger clientele could help you in
other ways. If you provide eye care and sell
eyewear products, you could stock eyeglasses and
contact lenses for younger users and create
literature and websites geared for them. You
could outfit your offices optical area with
seating and mirrors of different heights and
provide other conveniences for patients of all
ages. Assistance is also important for health
care providers. By contacting Eye Care Leaders,
youll receive help to find the right office
software and other digital solutions.