There are many different aspects of healthcare management and all of them make a difference. From hiring your staff and properly training them, to open lines of communication, to keeping resources available for use, all of these things are meaningful aspects of your healthcare practice. Let’s go over these in some more detail.
Properly Hiring and Training Staff
Making sure you have the right team of trained professionals is a necessity as it streamlines every other aspect. When hiring a new staff member for your healthcare office, it is important to make sure that they are knowledgeable of how an office operates and what is expected of them. Previous experience may not be required as long as proper training is provided to all new hires. Someone new to the field may end up as a valuable asset to your team as they work to show you they are the right choice. Make sure the training involves someone familiar with the new hire’s position to achieve the highest level of integration, integrity, and expertise into the position. For the new hire, a knowledgeable trainer allows their questions to be answered immediately instead of waiting on the answers that must be sought out if they’re trained by someone who doesn’t have direct experience in their position and department.
Also, keep an eye out to recognize when it is time to hire someone new. This may not be when someone is leaving the office, but, rather, when the office is in a place to grow. You could need more staff if your current staff are over burdened by patients, incoming calls, bill processing, etc., (and when patients have long wait times!). If this is something that only happens during certain times of the year, hiring temporary help is always an option to help while things are at top speed and not worry about the extra expense when things slow down.
Communication Is Key
Communication is the key to success in any business. Whether you are speaking to your staff, your patients, a third-party medical billing professional, or a bill processing server, clear communication is a must. When it comes to the healthcare professions, miscommunication can create many issues for many people that could have been easily avoided. Making sure your staff know exactly what is going on with each patient and what is needed could even be a matter of life and death! Also, ensuring your patients are fully aware of their conditions, medication schedules, and possibly deadly side effects to look out for should be the top priority of all staff. Not only is a well-informed patient more likely to come back, but clear and concise communication may help protect your practice from possible lawsuits.
Another component of communication to keep in mind is the knowledge needed to communicate clearly in the healthcare field. Making sure patients understand when their next scheduled appointment is and what they need to remember and take away from the current appointment is key to keeping them on time and as healthy as they can be. Additionally, many medications and medical conditions have similar spellings and sounds and knowing which your staff should be using is imperative. This even touches back on training your staff to be fully knowledgeable in their position for help the patient to the best of their ability.
Have and Offer the Right Resources
Having a large supply of resources for your staff helps them in improving their knowledge for their position. Whether there are resource and reference books in the office or have online access to medical assistance, such as coding and terminology, any and all of these can keep your staff up to date about everything they need to know about their patients and their jobs. Make sure your staff knows where these resources are and that they are accessible whenever needed. Doctors and nurses are great resources, too. Encourage your staff to use each other as resources as well and this will help keep up office moral as well since everyone will be helping each other.
Let Clients ARM Help Take Some of the Load Off
There are many things that just can’t replace having someone in your office speak to the patient face to face. Making sure your staff have the time and ability to be personable with your patients is something we can help with. Here at Clients ARM, we can help by taking on some of the back-office work for you. From coding, billing, and scheduling, we can make sure your staff are never too busy to help a patient in need. Contact us today for a free consultation and let us show you how we can make your practice better and easier on you.
