Practice Tip 03 - Optimum Client & Patient Flow

Optimum client & patient flow – an issue of control…

Ever have those wild days where a whole week’s worth of clients and patients showed up and left you and your staff stressed out and leaving late? Then, on top of that, had the rest of the week open? Many of us have experienced these crazy ups and downs in client/patient flows and the ensuing frustrations of increased staff. Over-time expenses and general confusion result in larger than we can handle flow. Some practices experience seasonal fluctuations of as much as 40 – 50% leaving a practice incurring high over-time expenses in the high season and laying people off in the low season.

Underneath this phenomenon is an issue of control. The definition of control is “your ability to proactively increase or decrease something under your care”. In this case, it’s your ability to proactively increase your number of clients and patients flowing into your practice at any given time. Now I am not saying you can control everything. You still will have urgent care cases coming in and last minute drop-offs. But you can use your scheduling and activation marketing to exert a controlling influence to some degree. Here’s how:

1. Define your high traffic day(s)
by looking back over your schedule for the days during the week that were uncommonly busy. Mondays for example are often a very busy day from handling the backlogged weekend problems. Designate this as your “High Traffic Day”.

2. Don’t book elective surgeries on your high traffic day
but instead push these further out into the week when you have more time.

3. Book wellness exams (internal marketing) on non-high traffic days
and at times when you are not swamped. Early afternoon is often best. Don’t book first thing in the morning or late afternoon.

4. Block off enough time for procedures.
The best way to do this is to define each procedure by 15 minute blocks of time and cross these off in your appointment book or program. Tip: Block off more time than it actually takes you to do the procedure and you’ll end up with extra time to handle the urgent care drop-offs.

A practice running with poor client/patient control is a stressful practice that costs you money both from incurring over-time expenses and then having staff the next day sitting around with little to do. On top of this, practices running at optimal client/patient flow have fewer missed charges, less mistakes, and a higher Average Client Transaction. Put some control into your practice and you’ll find your optimum client-patient flow.