Act On Your Data

To the untrained eye your monthly practice data can be overwhelming. First you must determine what data is necessary to tell the story of your practice each month. From there it is important to develop practice Key Performance Indicators from which you will turn data into action. For a new practice pick 3 pieces of data where you can quickly implement change based on the monthly results. For example if you aren’t happy with your monthly no show rate the first place to look is how you are currently managing your patient appointments. If you are a large practice utilizing a sophisticated EHR system, are you using all of the available tools of that EHR platform to reach your patients? Are your desk staff confirming each patient’s phone number every time a patient checks in to make sure all of their contact data is accurate for your EMR system to send reminders? If you are a new practice with limited resources or a smaller volume practice then task your staff to give patients white glove service. Phone call reminders are certainly effective but in a world where we are shifting away from traditional phone calls invest in a cell phone for the practice that you can send personalized text message reminders to your patients. It’s easy for a patient to ignore an automated text but if your desk staff sends the following: “Hi Suzie, this is Mary from XYZ practice, we have you scheduled for 10am tomorrow and look forward to seeing you then, please confirm your appointment.” You have now added a personalized touch and have enhanced the relationship between your practice and the patient. The little things matter. Even a no show decrease of 2% for the month can have a big impact on your monthly revenue.