The Monday after a time change seems to drag. Time changes have a negative impact on productivity for nearly every industry and business. Unfortunately, business must go on. And, an optometric practice must retain focus and boost productivity to ensure each patient is being given your staffs’ full attention.
Here are a few ways you can increase productivity in your optometric practice.
How To Improve Optometric Practices Productivity
Do The Most Important Task First
Many productivity experts agree that “eating the frog first” is the most important productivity tool you need to stay focused and get work done. The idea is that if you start with the more important task or the hardest task first, you can reduce stress and procrastination to get the job done.
For example, if the person handling your optometry billing focuses on working rejections first thing in the morning, they can ensure that the rejections are resubmitted to avoid the timely filing deadline and then work on submitting the new, untouched claims.
Schedule Time Blocks
When your staff has to pivot between different exam types, attention to detail is lost and error rates increase. To cut down on exam pivots, create time blocks to fit similar exam types into the same window of time. Doing so will help you and your staff focus more on the patient and not on remembering what the exam is about or spending more time refocusing the exam based on the chief complaint.
Use Defined Processes
Having a clear, optimized workflow that efficiently takes your patient from check-in through check-out will help you cut down on wasted downtime. A process that will minimize bad patient handoffs and allow the OD to focus more on strategic thinking will not only improve your office workflow but will also keep the rest of the staff focused on their part of enhancing patient care.
Use EHR Software
Modern optometry software such as a cloud-based EHR and practice management solution can be used to cut back on errors and wasted time caused by illegible handwriting and will make it easier for staff members to pass patient data to the OD more efficiently.
Additionally, you can use an all-inclusive EHR to automate repeatable tasks like data entry, patient recall messages, and other items.
Conduct Daily Standup Meetings
Standup meetings help create transparency in the team’s day-to-day activities and build accountability. Another benefit of a daily standup meeting is that you refresh the team on what the goals of the practice are and help reignite the determination on meeting those goals.
Remove Distractions
While technology is great, it also created a number of new distractions that are difficult to eliminate. Some of the more costly distractions that can plague a practice include surfing the internet, social media, and cell phone usage.
If you feel like these distractions are impeding your staff’s ability to enhance patient care, consider blocking popular websites that are not work-related and establishing cell phone usage rules for your practice.
Take Breaks
This may seem counter-productive, but taking breaks can improve productivity. Working on the same task for a long time may inhibit the creative drivers and strategic thinking needed to focus and advance ideas. When you’re feeling stuck, take a short break between patients and reorganize your thoughts.
For more optometric practice tips, subscribe to the blog!
