Long patient wait times.
Grumpy and overworked staff.
Poor surgery conversions.
I hate to tell you, but the problem might be with your scheduling template. It’s often the source of frustration and yet the one thing practices dread adjusting. But, if things aren’t running smoothly, it’s probably because we didn’t set ourselves for success in the first place.
Make the schedule work for your practice… not your patients. If a patient wants an appointment, you determine when you can fit them in… not the other way around. It’s like a puzzle, when the pieces fit, they fit. We don’t want to try and stuff pieces into a space that clearly isn’t going to give us the prettiest picture.
Group appointments together. Cataract evals, with cataract evals, LASIK exams with LASIK exams. People like seeing other patients that are similar to them. If your LASIK patient, is only seeing 60-70 year old patients in the waiting room with them, are they really going to think your practice is THEplace for LASK?
Plus, when you group your like-minded appointments together, It helps your staff and your technicians get into a flow and routine. This can also be helpful when identifying if you staff is truly overworked, or if they are just mis-managed.
Move medical appointments to the morning. If stuck in the middle of your day, they can often be time-suckers, you can never get back on track from. I.e. long patient wait times and unhappy patients.
Long-wait times caused by an inefficient schedule, can inevitably bring down your conversions as well. Often times patients meet with a counselor toward the end of an appointment to discuss surgery dates or options. If your running behind, not only is the patient irritated, but sometimes leave before you can further discuss what was evaluated. We spend the majority of our time getting to this point, and then miss our opportunity because of staff and scheduling inefficacies.
Want to see your practice with fresh eyes? Inquire about an on-site practice assessment!
