September 2009

Streamline your office for success

by Dr. Stephane Laverdiere

Being disorganized costs time and translates into lost income. Often the chiropractor is unaware how much time certain office tasks take. A thorough evaluation of your chiropractic health assistant's work time is information you need to manage an efficient office.

For example, how much time does your staff spend finding travel cards, handing them out and re-filing them? If your office is like most offices, a surprising amount of time is wasted dealing with paper travel cards, particularly when you have to search for that single elusive card that’s been misfiled. Handling travel cards is one of those tasks that can simply take the fun away from everyday practice.

I recall going to the mall and seeing someone who’d been a great patient but had stopped coming in. I asked the staff the next day what happened to that person and they frantically started looking for her travel card. They had to get back to me because they simply couldn’t find it. They were a very organized staff, but it's easy to make mistakes when you have thousands of patient files.

Once they found the travel card, they gave me an answer I didn't like hearing. "Oh, we called her once but must have misfiled the card so we never followed up."

On another -- similar -- occasion, they told me that they'd called the patient and were asked to call back but the card was filed away.

How many patients did I lose because of misplaced cards or cards that were "filed away?" How many have YOU lost?

The past is past so there's no sense in looking back with regret, but it's important to do what you can now to prevent that kind of thing from happening in the future.

By adding a virtual travel card system to your office, you could save your staff 35-40 hours of work each month. With the average wage for a CA being around $14 an hour, this translates into $560 a month or $6,720 a year. Your exact savings will depend on your volume and location but these estimates apply to most offices. Do the math yourself and see how much those travel cards are costing you.

Every time a patient walks into your office, your CA has to: 1) find the right card, 2) hand the card to the patient when he or she arrives, 3) collect the card on the way out, 4) write notes on the travel card, 5) file the cards for the day in the appropriate place, and 6) pull the cards again for the next day.

In order to determine the number of visits a patient has had, the CA counts the entries on the travel card, making additional notes about phone calls, etc. The cards contain a wealth of information, but in a format that’s inefficient and, frankly, old fashioned. Paper travel cards are to electronic "virtual" travel cards what 8-track tapes are to CDs and mp3s.

A good software system will not only keep track of the number of visits, but put all the information you need in front of you. A virtual travel card is much more flexible and efficient since the system is doing all the calculating and giving you live stats on your screen.

Here are some of the things you can find on a good virtual travel card:

*** Stats about recommendations and actual patient care visits

*** Date of last re-exam or X-ray and various other services

*** Previous SOAP notes and any special notes including diagnosis and problems

*** A library of handouts that can be printed with a single touch

*** Statistics about your day

*** Customizable notes

*** Instant messaging between the staff and doctor

*** X-rays, EMG scans, postural pictures, and other imaging

*** Virtual spine and much more

A virtual travel card system will save your staff many hours of inefficient, frustrating work -- and it'll do the same for you as well! Being a chiropractor today is much more complicated than just hanging a shingle on the door and posting your hours. A virtual travel card will help you shorten your adjustment time and free you up to work on more patients or other office projects like marketing.

Isn't it time you got rid of your old paper cards and entered the 21st century with new generation software that can create a superior office experience for your staff and your patients?

(A 1995 graduate of National College, Dr. Stephane Laverdiere is president of Atlas Chiropractic System, a total office management system and paperless solution with world-class flexibility. For information, go online to www.atlaschirosys.com , call 877-602-8527, or e-mail acs@atlaschirosys.com .)