THE VALUE OF HAVING A DAILY PRODUCTION MEETING TO IMPROVE SERVICE TO YOUR CLIENTS AND PATIENTS

Coordination is one of the most vital functions of running a successful hospital and can often be a turning point for a hospital in improving service and working as a team to deliver exceptional service to patients.

I recommend starting each day with a fast, 5 to 10 minute, production meeting to provide an opportunity for staff to get in communication and get coordinated. This is not necessarily a sit down meeting, but a rapid coordination meeting to get the day started. (If you have staggered schedule shifts, you could work this into a meeting at the start of each shift.)

The following are points to cover in your daily coordination meeting:

1. which client and patients are coming in

2. what the production looks like for the day and what needs to be produced to make financial

benchmarks.

3. any special announcements that all staff should be aware of

4. monthly promotions

5. who is going to be working on reactivation calls to get past clients back into the office

6. coordination on existing or new protocol

All staff, including associates, play an active role in this meeting by being:

1. on time

2. prepared with relevant charts and information

3. focused on what needs to be accomplished for the day

A good example of how a staff member could greatly contribute during this meeting is as follows.

A client who is bringing in a patient today who has a lengthy treatment plan but was only scheduled for a small aspect of the treatment plan today. You just found out there is a canceled appointment and/or free time in the schedule. You suggest that the client could be quite willing to extend the time of the visit to have more treatment done for the patient. By conveying this to the entire staff at the meeting, everyone can act in coordination. When the client and patient arrive, a concentrated effort can be made to motivate the client to complete more treatment during today’s visit.

This approach is of benefit to the patient and the practice. It is always best for a patient to complete his/her treatment plan as soon as possible to avoid additional problems and costs and is a real service to the client as well.

Another example could be the office manager using the meeting time to go over a promotion that the office is running and role play drilling (or other forms of drilling) the staff on how to inform clients of the promotion so that the staff feel comfortable and can provide all the information necessary to scheduled patients.

You could also use this meeting, if you are the owner, to go over any new treatment protocols and can drill the staff so they are comfortable with the new protocol, ensuring that clients and patients receive the best possible service.

These are just a few examples of the value of the morning meeting.

Implementing a daily morning meeting can establish a better team, improve service and care to patients and increase the financial viability of the practice as a result!

THE VALUE OF HAVING A DAILY PRODUCTION MEETING TO IMPROVE SERVICE TO YOUR PATIENTS

Coordination is one of the most vital functions of running a successful practice and can often be a turning point for a practice in improving service and working as a team to deliver exceptional service to patients.

I recommend starting each day with a fast, 10 minute, production meeting to provide an opportunity for all staff to get in communication and get coordinated with regard to the following.

1. which patients are coming in
2. what the production looks like for the day and what needs to be produced to make financial benchmarks.
3. any special announcements that all staff should be aware of
4. monthly promotions
5. who is going to be working on reactivation calls to get past patients back into the office
6. coordination on existing or new protocol

All staff, including office manager, owner, associates and general staff, play an active role in this meeting by being:

1. on time
2. prepared with relevant charts and information
3. focused on what needs to be accomplished for the day
4. Keep the meetings up beat and positive

A good example of how a staff member could greatly contribute during this meeting is as follows. 

A patient who is coming in today has a lengthy treatment plan but was only scheduled for a small aspect of the treatment plan today.  You just found out there is a cancelled appointment and/or free time in the schedule.  You suggest that the patient could be quite willing to extend the time of the visit to have more treatment done. By conveying this to the entire staff at the meeting, everyone can act in coordination.  When the patient arrives, a concentrated effort can be made to motivate the patient to complete more treatment during today’s visit. 

This approach is of benefit to the patient and the practice.  It is always best for a patient to complete his/her treatment plan as soon as possible to avoid additional problems and costs.

Another example could be the office manager using the meeting time to go over a promotion that the office is running and role play drilling the staff on how to inform patients of the promotion so that the staff feel comfortable and can provide all the information necessary to scheduled patients.

You could also use this meeting, if you are the owner, to go over any new treatment protocols and can drill the staff so they are comfortable with the new protocol, ensuring that patients receive the best possible service.

These are just a few examples of the value of the morning meeting.

Implementing a daily morning meeting can establish a better team, improve service and care to patients and increase the financial viability of the practice as a result!

AUTOMATED ANSWERING SERVICES ARE LOOSING YOU GOOD PATIENTS

It’s time to get rid of automated answering services during working hours.

The truth is that if you are using an automated answering service during working hours, you are loosing potential new and returning patients.

By survey, most patients feel that it is very impersonal to be received by an automated answering service and they get the idea that you are too busy to see them, so they rapidly hang up and move on! It reminds them too much of a big corporate operation – very impersonal and uncaring. They feel that once they get the automated answering service they are a number being handled by a machine and no longer a patient being cared for.

I can understand using an automated service when the practice is closed at the end of the day, but outside of that, there is no reason you should. Patient communication is one of the most important aspects of patient care. It will make or break a practice.

It can occur that your front desk gets flooded with incoming calls or has to work with a particularly talkative person, preventing them from answering incoming calls or patients coming into the office as quickly as they’d like. I find that the automated answering service is still not the way to go. I’ve had success in addressing this by working out alternative staff that are assigned to answer incoming calls when the front desk coordinator is unable to or by training the front desk coordinator to politely place a call on hold, so they can handle incoming calls or patients. This prevents the need to have patients talk with a robot to schedule their next appointment.

Good communication skills are valued as much or more by patients as clinical skills. Personal contact with you and your team, whether positive or negative, is the most memorable aspect of the medical care they are looking for. Patients assess the quality of their care not only on clinical excellence, but also on the quality of communication with the practice staff.

Getting rid of the automated answering service, establishing the personal touch with your patients and implemented the following guidelines will improve patient contact and thus build patient satisfaction. 

 

Telephone Communication

• Answer before the third ring.
• Smile as you speak to the caller.
• Begin with an appropriate greeting (per the policy of your office).
• Find out the reason for the call without being abrupt. 
• Offer to help the caller.
• Speak pleasantly despite pressures.
• Speak professionally.  Avoid jargon or slang.
•  Refer to the caller by name. 
•  Gather the necessary information (name, phone number, reason for the call) when taking calls for other staff members.
• Record phone messages accurately to avoid confusions. 
• Ask permission before placing callers on hold.
• Thank the patient for calling.  End without sounding abrupt.
• Check the off hours answering machine for messages at the beginning, middle and end of each day.
• Get back to people as soon as possible.
• Revise the off hours answering machine message once per month.
•  Revise the outgoing message to reflect closure for meetings, training, vacation, etc.

Reception Communication

• Smile and greet patients by name as soon as they enter the practice.
• Use the patients’ surnames until invited to use first names.
• Know the reason for the patient’s appointment.
• Sit or stand erectly and make good eye contact.
• Listen to the patient’s point of view and show that you understand.
• Answer questions in a concise yet complete manner.
• Explain the reason for appointment delays and offer the patient the choice of refreshment or a rescheduled appointment.
• Speak pleasantly despite pressure.
• Avoid jargon and slang.
• Explain clearly the financial policies of the practice.
• Use short sentences and simple language when giving instructions.
• Let patients know they are welcome in the practice.

In summary, if you get rid of the automated answering service and establish the best possible personal relationship with your patients, you will see your patient satisfaction improve and you practice will benefit in improved patient numbers and better practice viability.

It’s all about service!