5 Tips to Improve Clinic Efficiency
By: UNO Technologies
Posted on: 8 Dec 2022
With over 2,000 GP, dental, and specialist clinics in Singapore, the primary healthcare sector is saturated with intense competition. Expenses are getting higher inevitably - especially operational costs such as rent and salary. The COVID-19 pandemic did not spare the medical industry and many clinics are facing tougher times staying in business. It is time to focus on improving your clinic’s efficiencies to revive your practice and improve margins.
Here are the 5 tips to potentially help you improve your clinic’s efficiency:
Use triage in consultations
Leverage telemedicine
Be transparent in billing and insurance coverage
Avoid erratic schedules
Master your clinic’s EMR
Use Triage in Consultations
Some physicians may choose to obtain their patients’ vital signs during each and every consultation; these may include the patient’s temperature, blood pressure, heart rate or even pulse oximetry value. While the importance of vital signs and triage cannot be overstated, consider delegating this task to a dedicated clinic assistant at the front-of-house area of the clinic.
This achieves two benefits:
First, patients may perceive a shorter waiting time as they are kept busy by your clinic assistant
Second, you may save anywhere from 2-5 minutes by offloading this task to a clinic assistant. Considering that the average consultation length for a general practitioner ranges from 4.4 to 11 minutes, meaning an approximate 45% average time saved, this is a significant time saving
Leverage Telemedicine
The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a surge in telehealth applications, both in general practice offices and boutique specialist clinics. The patient population today is more digitally literate, more time conscious, and more tech-savvy than ever. Consider offering a telehealth service for simple ailments (e.g., URTI, headache, GE, and rash).
You can maintain the physician-patient relationship and retain patients even if they are not willing to make a physical trip down to your clinic. For chronic ailments which require a simple review of labs (e.g., HbA1C) and medication top-up, consider a delivery or pick-up service together with a telehealth application. The evidence suggests that patients are increasingly satisfied with telehealth in the primary care setting
Be Transparent in Billing & Insurance Coverage
Physicians should endeavor to be transparent with their billing and avoid “fine-print” surprises. One example would be to achieve clarity regarding what construes a ‘short’ consultation versus a ‘long’ consultation in minutes. The specific insurers which are covered by the clinic should also be reflected at the waiting area, or even the front door of the clinic, to avoid misunderstandings at the end of the consultation.
Often, billing and insurance reimbursement is handled by front-of-house staff who also handle the medication dispensing and patient registration. A single mistake could eat away precious minutes at the front-of-house, leading to a backlog in patient registration.
Avoid Erratic Schedules
While most physicians use an online scheduling system that is integrated with a CMS, they may not conscientiously group like activities.
To optimize resource allocation and logistics handling, physicians are encouraged to schedule specific patient cohorts in groups. For example, pre-employment medical check-ups could be batched in one session and COVID-19 vaccinations could be batched in another. This achieves economies of scale as the pre-screening activities could be handled as a group by front-of-house staff and workflows are streamlined.
Master your clinic’s EMR
Electronic Medical Records are crucial to physicians and will be used the most whenever you see a patient. So whether you are using a Healthcare EMR software or a CMS with a built-in EMR, be sure to master the interface and features.
Here are some tips on choosing and mastering your EMR:
Choose a cloud-based EMR that displays real-time data
Autofill features for codes such as ICD10 or SNOMED.
The EMR should be customizable to your preferences and workflows.
Get proper training on how to use the EMR. Arrange a time to get hands-on training with your EMR vendor. You should be very comfortable with the navigation and features by the end of the training.
Learn to write, draw and upload that patient documents onto the EMR to minimize manual paper filing.
Mastering your EMR can give you the full picture of your patient’s information. You can track their progress, make improved diagnoses, and encourage follow-up appointments. Helping you manage your patient’s health more actively.
Conclusion
Competition is not necessarily a bad thing; it can often bring about new ideas and improvements. The tips suggested above are not difficult to implement and doesn’t cost you much either, we do hope it can help you in your clinic and produce good results.