How to Run a Clinic Successfully: 4 Tips for the Practice Owner

Running a successful medical practice requires more than just providing quality services to patients. It also needs proactive planning and strategic management of day-to-day operations, billing processes, and more. Here are some tips on how to run a successful medical practice and build a strong business plan.

1. Embrace Technology
2. Don’t let day-to-day operations slip through the cracks
3. Implement long-term planning and strategy
4. Stay on top of your financial situation

1. Embrace Technology

Automation

A simple way to save yourself time in your day-to-day operations is to automate as many tasks as possible. Utilizing project or time management tools can help you and your employees stay on top of daily tasks and facilitate collaboration to help jobs get done more efficiently.

Marketing/Advertising

Medical practices need marketing too. There are so many tools online that can help you sell yourself to potential patients. To keep up on healthcare marketing trends, check out 10 marketing trends to keep in mind.

The most useful resource to focus your marketing efforts on is your website, especially if you’re just starting out. Optimizing your website by adding keywords and incorporating popular search terms will help you organically rank and improve your online presence almost immediately.

Another online marketing tool at your fingertips is your Google My Business (GMB) profile. Simply claiming and adding practice information to the GMB listing will improve your online visibility.   For more information on the do’s and don’ts - check out our playbook on using Google My Business!

2. Don’t Let Day-to-Day Operations Slip Through the Cracks

Team

Your team is the foundation of your practice - be sure to set them up for success with the right tools and optimal conditions!

When considering how to improve clinic efficiency, facilitating communication can help alleviate some common workplace stress. Consider incorporating a short daily briefing at the start of every workday. This allows employees the opportunity to share what they’re working on, what they’ve accomplished, and any issues they’re facing.

Additionally, making sure to support your team and celebrate their wins will not only feel good but will increase morale and productivity! Studies show that recognizing and commending employees for their good work is more likely to encourage them to continue performing well!

3. Implement Long-Term Planning and Strategy

Panel Management

One of the most important and strategic moves you can make is to have a solid understanding of your medical practice’s general patient demographic. Knowing what your patient flow looks like will help you better organize your time.

Are you seeing a high volume of millennial patients? Then you’re likely finding that they want to make appointments after normal office hours, whereas older patients are going to lean towards morning appointments. Understanding this data and how to adjust your preparation for appointments can make a world of difference, and save you valuable time.

Consider Outsourcing

Are the administrative aspects of running a practice taking up time that could otherwise be spent with patients? Outsourcing administrative duties to a service company are worth considering. Practice management companies like 99MGMT specialize in handling administrative tasks, allowing practitioners to focus on their patients.

Some services you can outsource include practice operations, credentialing, billing, and marketing. For more information on these services and the impact of outsourcing administrative tasks, please review the posts below:

What Are Medical Practice Management Consultants? Do You Need One?

What Are Medical Billing Services? Why Outsource Medical Billing?

4 Ways Physician Credentialing Services Help Your Practice Save Money

4. Stay on Top of Your Financial Situation

Reduce Overhead

Many clinics tend to find themselves struggling with their finances. Oftentimes if practice owners are not highly aware of all their expenses, they tend to miss important details that could be detrimental. The easiest way to combat this is to be vigilant in tracking your medical practice’s expenses.

A great way to keep track of your financial information is to regularly run reports for cash flow related to your business. Typically, it is recommended that a private medical practice runs a practice expense report weekly, a financial metrics report monthly, and a workflow analysis report quarterly.

How to Run a Medical Clinic: Implementation

We’re not saying that your medical practice has to employ every one of these strategies or tools. , but hopefully, you can apply some of the information you’ve learned here to help transition to a successful private clinic that runs more efficiently. Providing patient satisfaction is a big part of the journey to success, as is a proactive management strategy.

If you find your medical practice struggling with any of the above strategies, give us a call at 972.792.5700. We would be happy to discuss our service options to help you better manage your day-to-day processes, so your focus can remain solely on providing quality patient care.