Processes That Work: A Guide to Transforming Your Practice

If you’re a regular reader of my newsletter, you’re already familiar with the 4 Ps that drive success in medical practices: People, Patients, Paperwork, and Processes. This month, I want to zoom in on Processes—not just why they’re critical, but how to create and implement them effectively to set your practice up for long-term success.

Efficient processes are the backbone of any thriving healthcare practice. A study in the Journal of Healthcare Management found that optimizing workflows can boost efficiency by 15-20%. When your workflows run smoothly, you and your team have more time to focus on high-value tasks, which leads to happier employees, improved patient care, and a healthier bottom line.

The Two Pillars of Process Improvement

When we talk about improving processes, there are two key steps: Documenting and Implementing.

• Documenting Processes: Clear documentation acts as a roadmap for your team, ensuring everyone knows their roles and responsibilities. It also simplifies training for new employees and makes troubleshooting easier when something goes awry.
• Implementing Processes: Implementation goes beyond writing things down. It involves assigning responsibilities, setting deadlines, and ensuring accountability. Regular reviews keep processes relevant and effective.

Ready to Improve Your Processes? Start Here

Here’s a 10-step checklist to help you design and implement processes that will transform your office. Let’s use an example: improving patient balance collections.

1. Identify the Process: Choose one process to improve or create. Example: Patient balance collections.
2. Define Objectives: Clarify your goals. For patient balance collections, objectives might include reducing patient AR days, cutting statement costs, and increasing time-of-service collections.
3. Map the Current Process: Even if it’s informal, map out the steps as they are now. This will highlight inefficiencies. Example: Patients pay copays at check-in, but post-visit charges are mailed as paper statements (costing $1/statement). There’s no option for electronic payments, and balances are sent to collections after 90 days.
4. Brainstorm Solutions: Involve your whole team and gather patient feedback. Staff may suggest adding Excel to all computers for easier calculations, while patients might prefer email or text reminders for bills.
5. Design the New Process: Combine your goals and feedback into a streamlined workflow.
   • Example:
     • Equip all computers with Excel.
     • Pre-calculate the Medicare 20% coins fees for efficiency.
     • Create custom fee schedule for most used codes for ease of use.
     • Research electronic statement platforms and payment integration options.
     • Require providers to document CPT codes at checkout.
     • Determine which employee is responsible for which tasks
6. Document the Process: Create easy-to-follow instructions, using flowcharts or diagrams where needed. Example: Click here for full details
7. Communicate the Process: Hold a team meeting to explain the changes and answer questions. Ensure transparency and buy-in.
8. Implement and Monitor: Roll out the new process and gather feedback from staff and patients. Adjust as needed.
9. Iterate and Improve: Continuously refine the process based on outcomes and feedback. Keep documentation updated.
10. Celebrate Success: Acknowledge your team’s hard work and the positive results. Improved workflows benefit everyone—staff, patients, and your practice’s bottom line.

This framework is meant to help you take some chaos out of your day to day and start bringing in the calm, one process at a time.

Processes can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to tackle them alone. If you’re unsure where to start, schedule a quick chat with me—I’ll help you identify key opportunities. Ready to dive in? Book your Comprehensive Private Practice Assessment (CPPA) today. Together, we’ll create a plan to bring calm to your chaos and take your practice to the next level.