Would you like to effectively cut costs at your facility?
Many practitioners in the healthcare industry often wonder how to save money without hurting their work environment. Cutting expenses doesn’t mean that you have to fire employees or give them fewer hours.
There are several ways to cut costs that will make your workplace healthier and let you put funds elsewhere. Your patients will also enjoy your services and you’ll be able to see more of them in a limited time frame.
Read on to learn about some tips that will save you money and make you more productive.
1. Lower the Overhead
Many practice managers don’t think about their overhead budget when they’re considering cutting costs. Overhead consists of things like supplies, materials, machines, etc. Anything that your business uses to get a job done is considered overhead.
Cutting down on your overhead costs will allow you to save thousands of dollars that can be used elsewhere. You should start looking at specific areas of your overhead:
Advertising
Advertising is an important part of success for any business, but medical services need to be wise about how they approach it. You should advertising via the internet rather than in-person to save on costs for physical ads.
Advertising on the internet will also allow you to choose who you’d like to target. Things like age, location, and occupation can be chosen when you’re advertising online, so you don’t have to hope that your target audience sees your ad in person.
Supplies
Depending on how your business functions, you might use a lot of paper, ink, or other supplies that need to be continuously bought. Cutting down on these products will save you hundreds each month.
If you can afford to invest in modern technology, you can handle most things digitally. For example, you can share documents with patients via the internet rather than printing out copies each time they visit.
Website
A website is very important when you’re trying to save money because you can let a customer do a lot on it. From your website, customers can pay bills, schedule appointments, request prescription refills, and download any documents they need.
2. Schedule Wisely
To effectively save yourself time and money, you need to start changing the way that you schedule appointments with clients. Many medical facilities have too much downtime in between appointments, causing the facility to miss out on money.
Rather than having large gaps in between, try to schedule appointments close to one another. Have one of your employees keep track of when clients arrive, how long their appointments last, and when they leave.
You can use this information to find out where you’re slacking when it comes to being efficient. If your patients spend too much time with a doctor, you can start working towards cutting down on the time spent.
Keeping track of your patients and appointments will also help you to form a way of scheduling that is effective for both parties. For example, new clients often spend a longer time at an appointment than someone getting a check-up.
You’ll be able to open your availability to clients based on how long you think they’ll be there. This will ensure that you aren’t wasting any time sitting around. You can also fit more patients into your schedule, effectively earning you more money.
3. Hire a Scribe
Many physicians, especially in smaller facilities, write all the information down as they’re going through appointments. While a receptionist will have clients fill out a few forms, they’re not in the exam rooms to write down things that are happening.
One of the best cost cutting tips that you can do is hire a scribe to write down things for you. A scribe is someone that records information and makes documents that both the doctor and patient need.
This helps you cut costs because you don’t have to spend time writing when instead, you can tell a scribe what to write as you’re conducting an exam. Whenever you’re done giving them notes to write, they can go and make the necessary documents.
The moment you finish an appointment with a patient, your scribe will have the documents completed for you and your patient. You’ll be able to quickly move on to the next appointment without any time in between.
4. Streamline Patient Education
Streamlining patient education is part of the lean six sigma methodology, which you can read more about in this article. Patient education takes up a lot of time in appointments, so streamlining it will allow your patients to get more info quickly.
Patients are often educated about their health in the same manner that many doctors do; sitting and giving an explanation. Rather than sitting down and talking with a patient about their condition, you can film educational videos on various topics.
Pick out some of the common conditions that you see, and start making videos that inform patients of what they are, treatment plans, and what they can expect. You’ll have to invest time into this, but you’ll save time in the long run.
When you play a video for a patient, you can use that time to see another patient or take care of another task if need be. You can also make a questionnaire to see if patients understand what they watched.
Start Using These Ways to Cut Costs and Earn More
With these 4 ways to cut costs, you’ll be able to earn more money because you won’t waste time in and between appointments.
Start getting rid of any extra things in the office to earn extra cash. Offering quick services by introducing a scribe and streamlining patient education will make you favorable by patients and incline them to return.
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