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 Gem #10
Utilizing Your Most Valuable
Resource At Disney, three factors drive their business and
affect their success. These are cast (our staff), setting
(our offices) and process (our policies, systems and procedures). Our
ability to produce income has several limitations including things
such as the number of treatment rooms, the effectiveness of our
communication skills and our physical environments. Many factors
are outside our realm of control, including reimbursement rates and
patient expectations.by Hal Ornstein DPM, FACFAS and Lynn Homisak, PRT, PMAC One area we do have total control of is the number of staff in our office and their productivity. This is one area where many practices fall short, including both new practitioner and the seasoned veteran. Our most valuable asset with the most potential to increase production is too often not utilized effectively. In our office before we hired the second back office assistant, when an employee called in sick it threw us into a tailspin. Now with the additional employee, we are covered. This employee can also reduce the workload of the other two employees by 10 %, resulting in less stress and staff turnover. Patient satisfaction, our office’s principal goal, has significantly increased with reduced waiting time and more face-to-face assistant communication with the patients. The role of the two assistants is essential to an efficient system to maximize the benefits. We designate one assistant as my personal assistant and the other as the floater. My personal assistant stays by my side ready to perform such duties as getting an injection without delay, answering patient questions relating to such things as dressings changes and shoe gear and answering questions about a patient’s condition. This list is only a small part of her duties and saves me a significant amount of time. This is because 50% of patients’ questions can be answered effectively by my assistant because of her training in both podiatry and communication skills. By having my assistants by my side at most times in the treatment room, they can then learn how I communicate conditions and treatments with my patients. It’s the repetitive nature of this inherent training that allows the assistants to mirror my protocols. I no longer have to look for my assistants to get an injection or supply for me while they’re cleaning another room. The days of spending three minutes explaining to Mrs. Jones what type of shoes she should be wearing or answering other simple questions are gone. I now save approximately 10 - 15 minutes per hour utilizing my personal assistant with patients, allowing me to easily see an extra patient per hour. Am I short-changing my patients? Just the opposite. My assistant will reinforce what I’ve told the patient and spend the time to effectively communicate with caring. Patients surveyed continue to reinforce that the system works. Increased income from utilizing an additional assistant to shadow the doctor is not the only significant benefit. In addition, you will likely experience: 1. Improved patient flow with significant reduction in patient waiting time. 2. Employee
retention and increased staff satisfaction. More to come................
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