May 2002

Susan Hoy’s TEAM TIPS
Getting Back to Basics

Imagine that you’ve hired a new front-desk CA with lots of positive qualities. Let’s call her Shannon. Shannon has an eye for detail, she’s extremely conscientious and hard-working, and she loves her job. The best part is, Shannon loves the patients, and the patients love her! Most would agree these are ideal qualities in a front-desk CA.

However, as the months go by, you notice Shannon becoming increasingly negative. After six months, she suddenly resigns, stating that the practice's patients have become difficult and miserable. Of course, all of your patients didn’t have a personality change in those six months; something else happened.

Shannon had an assistant who was just the opposite of her. She was not conscientious, detailed, or hard-working. What happened during those six months was that Shannon took on the work of the other CA, who was not conscientious. Soon, Shannon was overloaded with paperwork and stressed. Because she had so much work to do, she began resenting the patients and considering them an “interruption” in her day.

This scenario is not difficult to imagine. There certainly is no shortage of paperwork in chiropractic offices. But the minute your employees begin looking at patients as a deterrent to getting their paperwork done, they have lost their focus and will surely become difficult and miserable.

There’s a simple truism in running a practice that bears repeating: The way you and your staff treat patients is the way they will treat you. The more unhappy, negative, overworked, and stressed your staff members are, the more patients you will have with those same qualities. If this is allowed to continue, practice volume and referrals will dwindle. Having fewer patients will surely mean having less paperwork, but it will also mean less revenue.

When your patients are in your office, you and your staff must be focused on them, not on paperwork. Patients are your “product,” and you are there to serve them.

These tips can help you and your staff - and ultimately, your patients:
• Focus on your patients during patient hours.

• Focus on your paperwork when patients are not in the office.

• Focus on business during business meetings.

• Focus on staff issues during staff meetings.

• An unhappy staff will surely put out negative energy to your patients. Solve your staff problems immediately before they fester into negativity.

• Your front-desk CA should do very little computer input during patient hours.

• Streamline and simplify your procedures so they don’t become unnecessarily complicated. Work-intensive procedures almost always lead to staff burn-out.

• Be organized and systemized so your procedures are automatic and not stressful. This means practicing and role play. Good experiences do not happen by accident.

• Make sure you and your staff do as much preparing for the day as possible before patients arrive; or, even better, the night before.

• Arrange your staff’s schedules so there are breaks in the day to take care of the computer work, paperwork, and phone calls. It can be done... it’s called “block scheduling.” Block scheduling can also help the doctors in the practice stay focused and allows for catch-up.

• Have job descriptions for everyone in the office so everyone knows what is expected. Make sure your staff has a way to vent frustrations and that you work together to come up with solutions. This creates a more productive and pleasant work environment for everyone.

The bottom line is that your office simply cannot afford to lose patients for any reason. It takes five times more resources to get new patients than it does to keep them. When patients enter your office, they should be made to feel special and valued. You can do that by creating a healthy, happy, and caring atmosphere.

Simply put, the goal is to focus on your patients’ needs when they are in your office. Don’t let distractions destroy your practice; be systemized, organized, and do whatever you can to simplify. And most importantly, let each and every patient know you are there to serve them, and do whatever it takes to make them happy.

Ms. Hoy speaks to chiropractic team members throughout the country and is an award-winning team trainer and consultant. She is the author of several books and a team-training manual. She writes a newsletter called “Team Work,” which focuses on chiropractic staff issues. Ms. Hoy served as office manager of Snyman Chiropractic Group in Center City, Philadelphia, for 11 years. She can be reached at 215-674-0130, or check out her website at www.beefitup.net.