Did you know that nearly 70% of physicians in the United States are employed by hospitals or corporate entities?
If you’re a physician that wants to branch out and start your own healthcare practice, you need to know a few things first.
Keep reading to learn how to run an efficient and profitable healthcare practice.
1. Automate Patient Reminders
Patient reminders, whether for appointments or test results, should be automated. Timely dialogue helps your healthcare practice deliver a quality patient experience and increase loyalty to patients.
Automated reminders make it easier for practitioners to deliver follow-up care that a patient needs without avoiding other important tasks. Plus, appointment reminders can reduce the number of no-shows.
You can set automated reminders with medical practice management software.
2. Implement a Patient Portal
Patients appreciate the ability to access their health information on their digital devices. A patient portal can help your practice deliver transparency and flexibility and cut down on time spent on administrative tasks.
Patient portals also allow patients to schedule appointments online. They’ll be able to pre-fill out registration paperwork to streamline the process.
Practitioners can use these portals to share valuable information with their patients. This is where a lot of automated reminders will come from as well.
3. Build a Digital Presence
A healthcare business is just that, a business. Businesses require advertising to bring new people in.
These days, a lot of people are researching and booking medical appointments via the internet. Building a digital presence and boosting your online reputation can make your business visible and reputable.
A marketing strategy for a successful healthcare practice should include:
- Detailed website
- SEO
- Social media engagement
- Online reviews
Your website is likely to be the first thing that patients see, so make sure it gives off a good impression. Use search engine optimization (SEO) for local and organic leads.
Social media is also a powerful tool for posting healthcare tips and building a strong referral network.
With a strong presence and a great patient experience, you should be able to get better online reviews that directly impact your business.
4. Make Billing Seamless
A profitable healthcare practice gets paid for every patient that visits. Your healthcare practice relies on a steady cash flow to operate smoothly. Make things easier on you and your patients by making the billing process seamless.
Following up on payments is a time-consuming task, especially if you have to manage different fee schedules.
The more you automate the billing process, the more you will benefit. Medical practice software can integrate patient fees and fee schedules.
The best way to automate the billing process is to upload invoices and receipts to the patient portal once patients finish their visits. You can also send email and SMS reminders for overdue payments.
Coronis Health can increase revenue and maximize collections with its risk-free financial checkup. You can find these services at coronishealth.com.
5. Manage Clinical Risk
When managing a healthcare business, it’s important that providers hold records based on government regulations. Healthcare practices need to provide patients with access to their medical records when they request them.
If you are holding incomplete records, your clinic may be at risk legally and financially. Protect your practice from this by managing clinical risk. This will require your business to have:
- Strong operational processes
- Secure patient records
- Comprehensive patient records
Strong operational processes refer to how you communicate with patients and which platforms you want to work with.
Patient records need to be secure and comprehensive. This includes reminders for medical appointments, bookings, payments, and records.
Digital tools will help lessen the clinical risk by taking the burden of administrative tasks off of your team. You can securely store patient information in the cloud so your practice can consolidate documents.
6. Hire Experienced Staff
Even with all of the experience you have, you cannot expect to run an efficient and profitable healthcare practice without a staff.
Experienced professionals know the ins and outs of starting and growing a successful business. However, you’ll also need staff members that have medical backgrounds and skills to work in your clinic.
Take your time hiring employees so that you can provide quality services to patients. Invest in training programs after you hire your staff to keep them up to date on current trends and developments in the medical industry.
You can find long-term staff with the right skills when you reward them by offering salary increases, time off, bonuses, etc.
7. Offer Community Outreach
Starting a healthcare practice is difficult if you don’t have any patients coming in. Offering community outreach services is a great way to attract patients when you are just starting out.
You can choose to provide free healthcare screenings, workshops, or talks on healthcare-related topics. Doing so can help build trust with potential patients.
Additionally, you can collaborate with other local businesses to offer joint programs that benefit the community as a whole. When doing this, always partner with a business that provides services complementary to yours.
Run an Efficient and Profitable Healthcare Practice
There are many aspects of running an efficient and profitable healthcare practice. To start, you’ll want to automate patient reminders, implement a patient portal, and build a digital presence to boost the patient experience.
From there, you’ll need to manage bills, manage clinical risk, and hire skilled staff members. To help you get a good reputation in the community and attract patients, consider offering outreach services.
For more informative blog posts like this, check out the other articles on our website.
