Stay organized with a busy practice

Congratulations, you’ve finally gotten the practice of your dreams.

You have a steady flow of patients, many of whom come to see you for maintenance chiropractic care. You are open six days a week, offer a wide variety of services and wellness products, and get glowing referrals and reviews from your patients on social media. This is the practice you have dreamed about since your first day in chiropractic school and worked so hard to attain.

However, if you are too stressed and worn out from keeping that practice then you won’t feel any sort of pride in your accomplishments. The phones never stop ringing, your hands, arms and back are sore by the end of the day, and you feel as though you spend more time on running your practice rather than on seeing patients. The reality of a successful practice means keeping it well-balanced and organized. Here are some new, innovative ways to help you get your practice organized and keep it that way.

Mobile apps

With the advent of smart phones, there are a number of online apps you can now download to help keep you organized.¹ You can now store your to-do list on your phone, rather than relying on scraps of paper that can easily get lost or misplaced. If you need a second brain to keep you on of it, you could consider a personal assistant app.² Such apps will merge your to-do lists, phone contacts, and calendars all into one easy-to-use interface. All of these apps can easily be synched to other devices, so that you can access and use them from your desktop or laptop.

Remote personal assistants

While personal assistant apps are great for day-to-day things you wish to handle yourself, sometimes you might want an actual person to keep you organized. This is when a remote personal assistant may be a better option.³ While apps are great for to-do items strictly related to your practice, a remote assistant is better for non-work tasks that might otherwise not get done during work hours. Examples might be pricing hotel rooms or flights, buying a wedding gift from a registry, or staying on hold with your health insurance company. The idea behind a remote personal assistant is that by giving them such tasks, you are free to focus on your practice.

Time management

Other organizing apps can help you track the time you or your staff spend on specific tasks.¹ If you find that more time is being spent on billing issues than on patient interaction, you can adjust accordingly. This may also allow you to get a better sense of whether or not you have time to take on more projects or more patients. Mapping out where your practice resources are located can help you determine if you have adequate resources to expand. This will avoid you overtaxing yourself beyond your abilities.

Such programs include:

• Programs that help you determine resource, time, and budget allotments for various individual projects. You enter in how long you (or your staff) have been working on a particular project, and the app then determines budget and billable hours for the project. This is great for solo practitioners because it helps them keep on track.
• Time-minding apps that track the amount of time you spend working on an Excel spreadsheet, typing up documents in Word, or looking up cute kitten videos on YouTube. If you often find that time seems to slip away from you, this app is great for both your desktop and your mobile devices.

There are ways for you to organize yourself and your practice to get the benefits of a successful practice, but without some of the headaches that come along with it. You’ve worked hard to build a successful practice, so why not take some time to enjoy it?

1. 5 best apps for getting and staying organized. Forbes Accessed 10/11/2015.
2. The 5 best personal assistant apps to help organize your life. Tech Times. Accessed 10/11/2015.
3. Virtual gophers tackle to-do lists. Wall Street Journal online. Accessed 10/11/2015.