When paper is piling up on your desk, projects are not sticking to a schedule, and you can’t remember where you saved the report that is due tomorrow, it is time to focus on office efficiency. Managing an office can be a complete disaster or extremely efficient depending on how you approach it and what types of tools you are using. Employee productivity depends on an office running smoothly and when an practice implements new efficiency measures it can see a dramatic increase in productivity. Take the stress out of running an office by following a few office management tips.
Five Office Efficiency Tips
Team Huddles
The only non-technology tip on this list will likely prevent more future headaches than any of the others. Take seven minutes (maximum) or less every morning to make sure all of the staff is on the same page and knows what type of hurdles will need to be dealt with that day. A medical office can quickly become bottlenecked and overwhelmed with patients and the better prepared all the employees are, the easier it will be to jump over the hurdle. Seven minutes of preparation can prevent hours of headaches later that day.
Intranet:
Sometimes the most difficult task during the day is quickly communicating with employees, moments when schedules intersect and just plain forgetting what you needed to say can easily block the lines of communication. A private intranet can be a good source of sharing documents, notes, ideas, assignments, and whatever else you can think of. Some offices will host a blog on their intranet to get everyone on the same page for the day or communicate important notices like changes in policies. Implementing an office intranet provides a limitless number of opportunities to streamline operations and improve staff collaboration. It doesn’t have to be a sophisticated tool, search Google for a free intranet tool (Google even has one), many of these tools are easy enough for non-technical personnel to quickly master.
Practice Management Software:
A Chiropractic specific Practice Management software program can streamline workflow, reduce the chance of errors, cut costs, and improve overall efficiency. The software provides sophisticated financial management tools paired with advanced patient connectivity and insurance claims tracking. Practice Management software reduces the tedious steps of operating a medical office. The improved efficiency will allow your practice to increase patient volume and overall customer satisfaction.
EHR Software:
The new trend for optimizing a health clinic’s operations is by converting 100 percent to electronic health records (EHR).EHR software can help your office convert from hard-copy documentation. Switching to electronic records will help to reduce the number of misplaced/lost paper records, allow you to customize the system to meet your workflow, and add new data directly into the patient record, among many other features. Reporting is simplified, and efficiency gains that result in twenty percent reductions of time spent on administrative tasks are not uncommon.
Electronic Fax & VoIP:
The Internet seems capable of doing just about everything, including managing your office’s entire telephone and fax system. The new VoIP technology allows you to place and receive calls over the Internet at a fraction of the cost you would pay for a standard local telephone service. The same technology allows you to send and receive faxes electronically. Not only does this new technology reduce office expenses, it will increase efficiency and flexibility, improve employee collaboration, and provide flexible and high quality communications. A VoIP phone number can be used from anywhere, not just the front desk, enabling telecommunicating for employees working on the phones all day.