The Patient’s Office
Healthcare redesign, though with good intentions, often misses the focus of what healthcare really is about. In order to be effective it must be all about the patient. And healthcare optimization and redesign rarely touches on what patient’s actually want.
But what if a young upstart renegade physician actually was given the opportunity to redesign their clinic and how they interact with patients?
What would be the first thing you would change?
Save A Tree
The first step, for me, to a clinic redesign has little to do with the furniture in the waiting room and much more with how the patient envisions a doctor visit. Or better yet, how a patient envisions a doctor’s visit fitting in their life and schedule. Whether it is due to their previous experience with clinics, doctors, TV shows, the web, the immediate gratification and ease of the sharing economy like UBER and AirBnB, patients and families expect and hope for a different doctor experience than our predecessor physicians have built their practices and livelihoods on. This is not to say that how the old medical guard are practicing is wrong, it is just time to evolve. And being a new physician, climbing out of the primordial ooze of residency, allows you to evolve at an easier and accelerated pace than those already established.
First off patients don’t want anything to do with paper.
Get rid of it.
If your practice still has not instituted an EHR or refuses to communicate with patients via email, I am sorry you need to move to this basic step. There is nothing in your office that cannot be done electronically and without paper. This not only clears the clutter, makes your office look immediately organized and fresh, but also lets you move faster as fast as your patient’s expect you to move. Plus, think of how impressed your patients will be with your new eco-friendly move.
Time is All that Matters
Next, patient’s want to see the doctor, and they want to see them now. Think about all the steps a patient must go through to see a primary care doctor:
They get their insurance.
They have to scower over yelp/zoc doc/friends and family reviews to designate you as their doctor.
They then have to talk with a staff member to check to see their insurance is actually taken at your practice.
They arrange to send over their old records.
Then they can schedule an appointment by talking to a receptionist.
They then have to get to the practice sign in, wait, then wait, then wait some more.
They are taken to the room by a nurse or MA vitals are taken, ROS, PMHx and all other questions asked.
Then they wait some more.
Then they get to see you for 5 -10 minutes.
Now to the average consumer of health care who does not have a need that will be fixed in a 5 min sick visit, and to do all that prep work for that short amount of time is losing favor among the general health care consuming public and why adolescents, millennials, and more baby boomers are moving to minute clinics and fast walk in centers.
Do you want repeat customers and recommendations like that new Starbucks on the corner?
Then start thinking like Starbucks.
Starbucks doesn’t sell coffee. They sell experiences based on what their customers want out of their local Starbucks, and they do it quickly, with consistent quality.
Adjust and change to your clients needs give your patients a health care experience and not a just a visit.
Let your patients schedule appointments online or on their phone either through services like Zoc Doc or through your EHR if your EHR provides the ability to do that. Make online forms for PMHx and ROS that patients can fill out on their phone or at home. Though not yet readily available EHR companies should start providing these tools that will then be automatically updated into the EHR and ready for you to see before you walk in the room. Making their time at home waiting for the appointment to actually be useful and add to your meaningful use credits. This then leads to less time with an MA or nurse with more problem focused evaluations. Well trained MA’s and nurses will be able to see pre-done ROS and know to do a blood pressure and not a pulse ox, or forgo the thermometer and take a pulse dependent on the pre-completed electronic, automatically uploaded to the chart/note ROS. With this technological change that is 5-10 minutes saved of generic question asking by someone who is not “their” doctor that can be used on actual physical exam patient teaching and heaven forbid trying to have a meaningful connection with your patient.
That connection will have them giving you a 5 star yelp review and coming back, not the antibiotics you prescribed. Your empathy is your greatest tool for winning over patients. Your knowledge as a doctor, I am sorry to say, just isn’t as prized as it used to be. All your soon to be patients have doctors at home called WebMD and Google.
But your empathy and your ability to communicate is what makes you “their” doctor.
Maximizing your ability to do this with time and eliminating things that can be done out of the office are simple technological steps that offices and clinics need to make to stay viable.
Get Compensated for All Medical Care
“On demand visits” is the new “home visit” that can actually be your office visit. Patients want to send you text messages and pictures to help them diagnose rashes and what not over the phone. This takes up real time during your day and is something that most practices will not bill for. If you start charging patients 15-20 dollars out of pocket for a telemedicine consult you may not believe it but your patient may think they are getting away with a steal. If it is a condition that you do not have to see the patient for and can recommend OTC remedies you just saved them money and a trip out to see you, definitely worth that 15-20 minutes. Plus, you can now actually schedule these 5-10 minute calls in your schedule and be compensated without having to bump other patients around or make them wait to see you for a similar condition that you just fixed over the phone.
Most practices that offer access to an MD 24/7 without a nurse triage line are concierge practices that charge patients hundreds to thousands of dollars a year membership fee for the same service you provide out of the goodness of your heart because you are a doctor. Your patients aren’t being charged a membership fee to see you, so they will be fine with paying for a phone/webcam visit. If their condition does warrant a visit to the office then tell them that and don’t charge them for the phone or texting consult, either way time and money not wasted.
Social Medicine
Connecting with patients on social media is not only a great way to stay engaged with the community but helps you get the word out to patients when health news and information that may be pertinent to them is available. Are you getting a lot of calls or emails with similar questions? Then write a blog post addressing these common patient issues using free blogging tools from Word Press or Tumblr and link it to your twitter/facebook/instagram and your practices website. This will not only have patients looking at health information you want them to see but also boost your search engine standings too when other people are looking for a doctor.
Speaking of twitter/facebook/instagram, if your office does not have an account with each of these apps then stop reading and go set them up now. And make sure to get a website address with your name before someone buys it and tries to sell it back to you for profit. These apps are the new home mailers for advertising. The better online presence you have the more full your schedule will be of happy patients. If you are not the most online/tech savvy doc but still want an online presence services like Doctor.com will help manage your online presence and help market you to your community.
All you have to do is Ask
The last bit of advice is really to take the time and ask your patients what they are looking for in your practice? It is easy to use survey services like Survey Monkey to email your patients and ask what they want from your practice. Every community is different and every patient population wants different things in their clinic. The next Silicon Valley patient may want more access to online or app based health information, while a geriatric patient would appreciate more calls to their home for check ins. Find what your patients want, and make changes accordingly.
Not everything will be feasible but at least your patients will know that you are actively trying to make your practice better and that you have their best interests in mind.
So there you have it, a few simple and mostly free ways to attract and keep new patients. Are there other things that your office or clinic is doing online or with your EHR to make the process of seeing a doctor at your practice a little easier? Email us and let us know. And remember whenever you are contemplating a change to your practice ask yourself how will this change impact my practice’s empathy and communication for the better. By adhering to this principle change is not a four letter word for a practice but something that we are all striving for as doctors looking out for the well being of our patients.