A professional and helpful front desk staff is one key to practice success in your clinic. To make a reputable position in the industry, customer service is your most competitive advantage. Patients most often highlight office and front desk staff as the primary factor when visiting the doctor – and thus your bottom line is to avoid a few mistakes other doctors make in their front desk management.
The first impression your patients will have is of your front desk staff, not yours. Within their initial contact of 15-20 seconds with your front desk, they decide whether they’ll be your regular client or not.
Not Protecting Patient’s Privacy
In some cases, loose-tongued front desk management staff can have real consequences for you. Simple front desk mistakes like calling the patient by their full name out loud or confirming their address, leaving printed prescriptions unattended, and writing passwords on paper that can be easily seen or photographed can invade their privacy. These mistakes could fall under HIPPA violation – a federal law passed by the U.S Department of Health & Human Services. In case of the disclosure of any personal or identifiable information to any source, there can be significant fines and costly lawsuits against the doctor.
Improper Billing
Medical billing and procedure always differ for every patient and physician and often rely on front desk management staff for arranging and submitting all the paperwork. If your medical practice is facing some financial issues and you’re losing patients it could be because of improper billing management. Places some of the top errors could occur:
- Lack of attention to detail
- Delayed filing
- Duplicate Bills
- Insurance errors
- Unbundling
- Miscommunication
On Call Etiquettes
Your front desk handles more than 100 calls a day and it’s impossible to know how time-consuming the caller will be. A patient might call to confirm the time, update their insurance details or reschedule the booking. Whether in person or on call, the tone and words of your staff members can have a far more lasting impression. Giving patients stone-face expressions or cursory answers leaves a negative expression and can turn them off. Try and ask your front desk management to always be at their best in proper professionalism and friendly manner.
Complaint Resolution
The front desk staff is always responsible for rapid fielding and response to complaints. Perfectly balancing empathy for the patient’s problem and determining the best way to address it could be a drain of time no matter how experienced the person is. Small or serious complaints can be a valuable source of insight to improve the services at your clinic. Some of the most common complaints customers raise:
- Long waiting times
- Issues with staff members
- Lack of communication
- Medicine billing
Explain to the patients and let them know that their complaints are taken seriously. Calmy clarify that the complaint will be reviewed and discussed with the management.
Efficiency and Effectiveness of Limited Resources
Based on the current staffing constraint it’s impossible to deliver exceptional attention and care to every patient. Instead, you can develop a strategy to provide proper care management services and focus on a cohort of patients. Identify high-risk patients and develop practice workflows. You can look for a technology solution to gain insights into the issues. When investing in a tool, look for solutions that will significantly increase the effectiveness of your clinical practice.
Bonus Tip
Now that you’re already aware of some other challenges faced by your front desk management – complaints, inbound calls, scheduling, reminders, arranging the time slots your staff is responsible for everything. To implement the right strategies and maximize the potential growth of your clinic go with a trailblazing app, Picktime. Picktime is a medical scheduling software tailored to match all your medical front desk needs. From Chiropractors to Psychologists to Business events Picktime has something for every business.
It has a user-friendly interface without any extra installations. Using Picktime you’ll get a personalized booking page for customizing according to your business theme. It can handle your staff scheduling, services, and patient database with 24×7 email support. With its online calendar, all your data will be stored in the cloud no matter where you are just sync your calendar (Apple/Google/Outlook) with the Picktime calendar and you never have to worry about no-shows and late joining’s. Picktime can also handle your payments, invoicing, video meetings, and even email marketing, just integrate with your favorite app – PayPal, Stripe, CRMs, Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, Jitsy Meet, Wix, Drupal, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and many others. Sign up for free today to know more about the powerful features.
To sum up, your front desk management staff are the unsung heroes of your medical practice. They’re the key to handling critical patients and maintaining productivity at your clinic. Don’t forget to acknowledge and appreciate them and keep putting effort to give a pleasing experience to your patients.
