How Many Staff Members Does Your Medical Practice Need
Supplemental staffing for small medical practices can be a tricky detail to get right. You want to have enough staff for the work that needs to be done, but not too much, either. So where is the happy medium?
The Phones Are Constantly Ringing
When the phones are ringing constantly and the practice doesn’t have a lot of extra staff, that might mean that calls go unanswered. There’s always voice mail, but when is there time to listen to the messages that pile up? If your practice has been relying on front desk staff to man the phones in addition to other duties, you might need to experiment with some other options.
Front Desk Staff Are Tough to Pin Down
When it comes to your front desk staff, do you have a tough time pinning down their location because they’re constantly on the go? Most of the time, front desk staff should be right there, at the front desk. But in a smaller practice, the front desk team might usher patients back, answer the phones, and take patient records back where necessary. That can be a lot for one person to manage in a small but busy practice.
Billing and Records Are Backed Up
It’s also vital that billing and records aren’t piling up. The billing issue is an obvious one to resolve fast, because that’s how the practice gets paid. But records are crucial, too. Patients might need referrals and that relies on all of the pertinent information making it to that specialist appointment when they need it to get there. If the office is behind on records, that won’t happen.
Patients Are Unhappy
But probably the most important question for you to ask is whether patients are happy and comfortable coming to the practice. If they know that it’s going to be a hassle and that staff will be running around from one task to another, they might feel as if they’re being overlooked and ignored. And it’s a short trip from that feeling to finding another practice that makes them feel as if their health is a priority.
Ultimately, the best answer might lie with supplemental staffing services. That’s a fast and easy way to put experienced nurses into positions and let them get started running. This is a solution that can be tweaked to meet the needs of the practice, too, without creating additional problems in the process.
