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8 Ways to Boost Office Efficiency

Cutting wait times in your office not only increases client satisfaction, it also makes your practice more profitable and your work environment more fulfilling. Here are some tips that can help you get clients in and out faster.

1. Conduct a thorough intake process
before the visit

When your client calls to schedule the initial appointment, get as much information as you can over the phone – including contact information, next of kin, insurance coverage, and most important, a phone number and email address. Or use slow times of the day to call scheduled patients and get any information you may be lacking.

If you wait for the patient to arrive, the front desk will be distracted from the needs of other clients in the waiting room, prolonging their wait times. If your new patient arrives at a hectic moment, important intake items can be overlooked. This can lead to insurance denials, delays in sending reports to referring physicians and other costly miscues.

To enter your clients’ demographic information in AppointmentsPRO, click on Data > Patient > Demographics.

2. Use an automated phone and/or email system
to prep clients before they arrive

If you expect your clients to arrive early, bring paperwork or x-rays, or do anything else before their visit, don’t expect them to remember simply because you told them when the apopointment was scheduled. Make a call or send an email reminding your clients of what they need to do to get the most out of their visit. Since these calls and emails often won’t get made if you rely on an already busy staff, consider an automated phone or email reminder system, or an automated calling service, to ensure these reminders actually make it to your clients.

3. See all new clients during specially blocked times

You can use the Hold Time feature in AppointmentsPRO to set aside certain times exclusively for new patients. (Highlight the block of time you want to set aside, then right-click and choose hold. You can set aside this time each day, week or month.)

This will allow you to get in the habit of completing a thorough intake procedure with every client that arrives during these times. If your new clients come at any time during the week, you will not be in “intake mode,” and can easily neglect to gather critical information when thigs get hectic.

4. Conduct an orientation for new clients

If you are in a business that involves recurring appointments, such as physical therapy or chiropracty, conduct a brief orientation with new patients, so that they know how to help themselves to the restroom, drinking water and other office ammenities when they come again. This will free your staff to focus on more important tasks and will go along way toward improving office efficiency.

5. Stagger lunch breaks

Lunch is one of the most convenient times for working people to see you, so why remove this highly productive time from your window of availability? A single lunch break for the entire office also creates inertia that you must overcome after lunch. Determine a staggered lunch schedule for your staff, and then switch to the weekly or monthly view in AppointmentsPRO to block off each staff member's lunch schedule.

6. You don’t always have to see patients in the order they are scheduled

7. Turn your clients into teammates

Don’t be afraid to let your clients know that your office is busy and that your time is valuable. Of course you want to give each client all of the time and care they need. But if you let them know that your office has certain policies, procedures and limitations in place to improve the service every client receives, most of your clientele will understand your need, respect your professionalism and cooperate with you.

8. Monitor wait times 

Once you have established these efficiency policies, you can track their effect by monitoring the average wait times in AppointmentsPRO. (Click on Reports > Statistical Reports > Arrived vs Seen Comparison.) Office efficiency is essentail to your profitability, which in turn drives your ability to provide a level of service to your clients. So make efficiency a priority!

Let us know how you’re doing and if this article was helpful by emailing PMN at newsletter@ssoft.com.