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Strategies to Improve Patient Flow
By: Diversity Technology, Inc.
Improving patient flow can yield a variety of benefits for almost any health care practice; patients are happier with increased appointment availability, shorter wait times, and quicker visits, and, as higher patient volumes are more easily addressed, revenues increase with faster exam room turnover. But to really get the most out of a practice and yield these benefits, practice managers and owners need to step back and look objectively for the bottlenecks in patient flow and find ways even a few seconds can be shaved off each patient visit. Here are a few general tips that most offices can implement to improve patient flow.
Standardization– In a perfect practice, each exam room would have the same layout, stocked with the same supplies in the same place. If cotton swabs, bandages and tongue depressors are on bottom shelf of the cabinet on the left in one exam room, then they should be in the same location and order in every exam room. While standardized design is not always an option in all practices, pushing to increase similarity as much as possible can save time searching for basic supplies and help streamline inventory management.
Exam Room Indicators– Using status indicators outside exam rooms, such as colored lights or flags, identifies what is happening in each room. For example, a green flag or light indicates the patient is ready to see the doctor, yellow suggests they are ready for the nurse, red that the room is empty and ready for the next patient. This method allows any employee in the practice to glance down a hallway and know exactly what needs to be done.
Faxes and Phone Calls– Not only are these distractions usually non-billable, they are counterproductive to helping patients in the waiting room. Returning phone calls, authorizing prescriptions and the like as they randomly filter in doesn't maximize the doctor's time with patients in the office. Consider standardized procedures so that as many prescription requests as possible are written up on a basic faxable form by front desk staff, requiring only a quick review and signature by the doctor. Then, one of the administrative staff can focus on getting faxes out to the pharmacy. With phone calls, triage non-emergencies for response by the doctor during one or two scheduled times per day– for example, block out a few minutes before lunch, and again at the end of the day. Or, to go one step further, a “new patient packet” that notes phone calls requiring diagnosis are charged at a flat rate of $10.00 will definitely reduce volume.
Scheduled Restocking- To make sure supplies are always on hand, a member of the office team should be designated to check all supply areas– including exam rooms, supply closets, front desk supplies, everywhere– at least a twice per week. Particularly in smaller practices, the disappearance of one employee for 5 or 10 minutes to restock supplies during a peak time can throw off patient flow for an hour or more. A weekly order, whether one item or fifteen, should be the minimum. Efficiency will come in making sure you have everything you need at the most critical time.
Double-up on Office Equipment– Some practices might enjoy the idea of having the latest, industrial, all-in-one printer/copier/fax/scanner/cappuccino machine. While nice to have, it can be just plain expensive. Having only one piece of hardware can also lead to delays from multiple users in queue, not to mention what happens when it breaks down. Consider two smaller versions of each in strategically placed locations, say, one at the front desk, and one in a back office. Two smaller, good quality all-in-ones can be picked up these days for roughly the same price as the annual lease on one of the industrial-sized models.
Staffing- Consider how the doctors in your practice spend their day. How much time is truly dedicated to providing care? Does the doctor spend time chasing down charts, organizing messages or preparing tests? What activities do doctors perform currently that could otherwise be done at a much more reasonable cost by an assistant. At a rate of $200 an hour, saving even one hour per day would more than cover the cost of an additional administrative hand around the office to cover these chores as well as support other patient flow initiatives. Yes, there are upfront costs in adding new staff that must be absorbed before it pays off, but in the long run, time will be better focused on activities that improve patient flow and improve revenue.
Check Out– Many practices don't think of the check out process as integral to improving patient flow. Efficient check out is important to getting patients on their way, and it presents a final chance to make sure they've had all questions answered, schedule follow up appointments and diminish likelihood they'll interrupt patient flow later with a phone call. Also, if you're referring a patient to a commonly used lab or testing facility, you can avoid simplify lengthy directions by keeping a stack of written copies on hand- this can apply to directions, reference materials, and any other general information that does not neglect the privacy policies of HIPAA. Ensuring this additional information, as well as informed staff are readily accessible at check out can save a lot of time down the road.
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