Mastering Patient Flow

by Woodcock, Elizabeth W.

• ISBN13: 9781568292281
• ISBN10: 1568292287
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Medical Group Management Assn

Summary

Your practice doesn't stand still-and neither do we. This best selling primer on medical practice efficiency has been updated to bring you the newest trends in applying technology, cost reduction strategies and HIPAA privacy compliance to practice operations. A new chapter on integrating technology helps you utilize the Internet as well as your practice management, EMR and document management systems to enhance patient flow. In other new chapters, find out how to tackle the issues of space capacity and utilization, and learn how to benchmark and reduce cycle time. In expanded chapters, you'll discover even more characteristics of efficient physicians in the provision of care, find more tools for telephone management and learn new scheduling methods to predict demand and simplify appointments-including group visits and express clinics. Contains self-assessment tools, tips, worksheets and case studies.

Author Biography

A leading authority on medical practice operations, Elizabeth Woodcock, MBA, FACMPE, is a speaker, consultant and director of knowledge management for a national practice management publisher

Table of Contents

About the Author	p. ix
About the Editor	p. ix
Preface	p. x
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Who should read this book?	p. 1
Why should you read this book?	p. 1
Why this book is different	p. 2
How to use this book	p. 3
After you read this book	p. 6
The Physician's Time	p. 9
Your most valuable asset	p. 10
The physician's minutes add up	p. 11
Examine the physician's non-clinical tasks	p. 12
Space is important factor in productivity	p. 14
Co-location and pods	p. 16
Maximizing your physician's time to increase patient volume	p. 19
Productive physicians are happier physicians (and so are their patients)	p. 21
Not all change is good	p. 22
Strategic considerations	p. 23
Advanced Concept: Average value of a customer (AVC)	p. 23
Advanced Concept: New physicians	p. 27
Advanced Concept: Going solo	p. 30
Telephones	p. 33
Learn to handle telephones; or they will handle you!	p. 34
The telephone is your friend, honest!	p. 34
Telephone demand is what you make it	p. 34
Inefficient telephones cost money	p. 35
Tracking call volumes	p. 39
Track inbound calls first	p. 40
Mystery patient survey	p. 45
Outbound calls can be time wasters	p. 48
Stop playing "pass the caller"	p. 48
Avoid unnecessary repeat calls	p. 49
Scheduling: Decentralize it	p. 49
Checkout: The place to schedule all follow-up visits	p. 50
Rescheduling: Learn how to say "no"	p. 51
Reminders can reduce telephone demand	p. 51
Let schedulers schedule	p. 52
Prescriptions	p. 52
Manage patient-to-physician calls better	p. 54
Follow-up calls	p. 54
Take messages that stick	p. 54
Managing test results	p. 55
Reduce unnecessary clinical calls	p. 57
What time is your callback?	p. 60
Billing and referrals	p. 61
Anticipate general information requests	p. 61
Unnecessary calls	p. 61
Reduce the rework	p. 62
Technology and telephones	p. 66
Voice mail	p. 70
Auto attendants	p. 73
Automatic call distributors	p. 76
Telephony applications	p. 77
Don't let your telephone system compromise patient confidentiality	p. 80
Staffing your telephones	p. 81
A final word on telephone management	p. 83
Advanced Concept: HIPAA and your telephone	p. 84
Scheduling	p. 87
Scheduling: The key to better patient flow	p. 88
Scheduling practices impact administrative and clinical performance	p. 88
Simpler scheduling	p. 91
Modified wave	p. 93
Access	p. 93
Same-day appointments	p. 96
Advanced access	p. 98
Advanced access principles	p. 100
Monitoring advanced access	p. 109
Delegate scheduling duties DOWN ...	p. 111
... Or delegate scheduling duties UP	p. 111
Doctor, may I schedule this patient?	p. 111
Free your template hostages	p. 112
Emergency calls	p. 113
Scheduling gaps should spur staff shifts	p. 114
Use better scheduling to contain facility cost	p. 117
Give the patient a heads up	p. 120
Smoother communication smoothes schedule delays	p. 120
No-shows happen for a reason	p. 121
Managing no-shows	p. 122
More on charging for no-shows	p. 127
Physicians can be no-shows too	p. 128
Surgery scheduling	p. 130
Keep track of surgery scheduling	p. 132
Appointment recalls	p. 134
Advanced Concept: Preappointment screening	p. 135
Advanced Concept: Physician supply and patient demand	p. 136
Advanced Concept: Group visits	p. 139
Advanced Concept: Express clinics	p. 143
Registration	p. 147
"The patient has arrived! Now what?"	p. 149
Don't make registration a source of pain	p. 149
Take another view of registration	p. 151
Pre-registration	p. 152
Register patients when they call for appointments	p. 152
Transfer patients to a "pre-registration unit"	p. 153
Call patients back to complete pre-registration over the telephone	p. 155
Use better technology to pre-register patients	p. 155
Insurance verification can ensure payment	p. 156
Registration	p. 159
Greeting the patient	p. 159
On-site registration of new patients	p. 160
On-site registration of established patients	p. 161
Registration forms	p. 162
Necessary signatures	p. 163
The sign-in list	p. 170
Communicating the patient's arrival	p. 171
Advanced Concept: Exam room registration	p. 175
Waiting	p. 179
The waiting process	p. 180
Do you know your practice's average wait time?	p. 180
Cycle time	p. 181
How to make the wait go faster	p. 183
Can you eliminate waiting?	p. 189
Other tips for the reception area	p. 190
Advanced Concept: Calculating wait time	p. 191
The Patient Encounter	p. 195
The actual encounter	p. 196
Make the most of the physician's time during the patient visit	p. 196
How much does your physician's time cost?	p. 196
Stop all that batching	p. 198
A virtual exam room	p. 199
Pre-visit planning	p. 201
When the physician waits	p. 204
Rooming standards	p. 206
The efficient physician's primer	p. 207
Inefficiency: A vicious spiral	p. 209
Quality, not quantity is the key to a successful visit	p. 210
Reach out to patients now, not later	p. 213
Improve patients' retention of information	p. 214
Handling the "oh, by the ways"	p. 215
Medical schools getting on the communications bandwagon ... finally	p. 217
The physician sets the tone	p. 218
Advanced Concept: Operations gap analysis	p. 219
Advanced Concept: The patient as co-producer	p. 220
Checkout	p. 223
Save time and money at the end of the patient flow process	p. 225
Smooth checkout saves time on the telephone	p. 225
Charge entry	p. 226
Two ways to handle charge tickets at checkout	p. 226
Follow-up scheduling	p. 227
Outbound referrals and ancillaries	p. 228
Test results	p. 233
Collection of payments	p. 236
Educational materials	p. 237
Prescriptions	p. 237
Document encounters in real time	p. 237
De-centralize checkout and use care teams	p. 239
Technology	p. 241
Technology offers bold innovation, but be careful to avoid obstacles	p. 242
The practice management system	p. 242
The Internet	p. 244
Document management	p. 246
Personal digital assistants	p. 248
Electronic medical records	p. 250
Preparing your practice	p. 254
Seven easy ways to make a technology purchase	p. 255
Use technology to get results	p. 257
New generation of users	p. 260
Fundamental Financials	p. 261
The fundamental financials	p. 263
Fixed cost: Get to know it and how to measure it	p. 264
Variable costs	p. 265
Using total practice cost	p. 266
What's your volume/cost break-even point?	p. 270
How many patients needed to support physician income?	p. 271
Expenses: The bottom line	p. 274
Lowering fixed costs to break-even at lower volume	p. 274
Advanced Concept: 25 ways to cut costs	p. 276
Summing Up	p. 281
Additional Resources	p. 283
Index	p. 287
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.