Restructuring your practice system to rejuvenate a flat practice

by Dr. Dennis Nikitow

In today's world of fast‑paced technology, high competition and constant change, patients' beliefs, values and expectations are changing. How people look at health care, the role they take, the education they get, and the system your practice has can be determining factors that insure practice growth or keep it flat. Rejuvinating a practice that has remained flat requires restructuring of your system.

Coined "reengineering" by Michael Hammer and James Champy, it requires radical redesign of your system to achieve dramatic improvements. It involves more than merely business modification or enhancement. It means taking a hard look at what you do and why you do it that way.

I constantly see doctors at my seminar doing the same things everyone else is doing with a few twists. When they see the Certainty System works, they see the dramatic changes that take place by making radical shifts in their current practice processes and their practice becomes rejuvinated.

There are certain fundamentals that need to be understood to restructure your system and rejuvinate your practice.

First, observe what you are currently doing and ask why you are doing it. Where did it come from? This forces you to challenge your current beliefs, values and assumptions as to how you practice. Where is your current system leading you? Are your rules erroneous, obsolete, or inappropriate? An example would be 3‑2‑1 adjusting to correct spinal alignment. Why would you decrease your adjustment intensity as the patient is getting closer to optimum alignment? Would anyone do that with exercise or diet?

Next, you have to disregard what you've been doing and stretch yourself to adopt a new system. Change sounds scary, but it's like pretending you're starting over from scratch.

Lastly, restructuring causes quantum leaps not just incremental improvement. When practices restructure their systems consistent changes occur. CAs work as a team with collective responsibilities to achieve a result rather than compartmentally just doing tasks. The members of the team have individual values and duties, but the collective consciousness is aimed at the overall result. Therefore, CAs are cross‑trained to perform each other's duties to work more efficiently to back each other up.

CAs are permitted and are required to think, interact, use judgment, and make decisions that are proactive for the team result. This results in personal and team improvement. If CAs are told to keep costs down they don't indiscriminately buy nor do they have to be supervised to purchase every pencil.

The Certainty System emphasizes staff "education"over "training" because training merely teaches skills, competence and "how" to do a job. Education emphasizes the purpose and philosophy behind the procedures. It gives understanding to "why" certain procedures are done and the impact it has on the patient you are serving. This enhances the CAs' ability to think on their feet in all different types of situations and emphasizes an optimum outcome for the patients and the practice team.

Restructuring your system must include the understanding that employees work for the patient, not the doctor. Therefore, compensation should be based on growth of patient visits as well as collections ‑‑ not on just collection growth.

When choosing to restructure your system look at the areas that are most dysfunctional and in the deepest trouble. Next, think about which of these have the greatest impact on your patients and community. Lastly, how would it improve your practice in growth, ease of operation, and less stress if you followed a time‑tested proven system that was easy to implement? Once you've chosen a system, follow these five points to rejuvenate your practice:

1. Reinvent your MVP. Pretend you're starting over and establish a new mission, vision, and passion to serve people and grow in your practice. Radically change your system and don't do the status quo model. Commit to reaching, stretching and remodeling.

2. Reorganize. A system should be designed to do step‑by‑step communication and procedures for predictable results. However, its basis is "why." The "why" is the principles and philosophy that drives the system. Start with the "why" so the team is stable in its MVP then organize the procedures to accomplish the "why."

3. Reassure. Reassure your team you are doing this together and that everyone is on purpose. Assure them you know that you will grow together and lay out compensations and bonuses that reflect that.

4. Retain. We encourage doctors to bring their staff to my seminars to insure team education and unity of growth. Most purchase my home study course, which provides guaranteed step‑by‑step system restructuring you can do at your own pace. Restructuring should include education, motivation, role playing, and evaluation.

5. Revitalize. Create movement by motivating your team about the outcome benefit your patients and community will receive through team unification, and common purpose. Help your team see that by helping people through great service the practice will grow and they will benefit too. Setting up bonuses and rewards for practice growth through great service will give your team a compelling future.

Restructuring your practice system may seem challenging, but it will guarantee your practice rejuvination ‑‑ with certainty!

(To learn about the Certainty System, Certainty Practice Products and Dr. Dennis Nikitow's upcoming seminar schedule, call 800‑544‑3884. Outside the US, 303‑721‑6202.)