Communication is an important part of keeping a medical practice running smoothly, and staff meetings are a great way to keep those lines of communication going, whether you hold them daily, weekly, or monthly. Make sure the conversation is two-way. Employees want to know what’s going on with the practice, and they also want their voice to be heard. The goal is to work together to build your practice.

“Outsourcing” is viewed in a very negative light by many Americans today. And if your medical practice is considering outsourcing one or more job positions or medical practice services, it’s true that outsourcing could keep you from hiring a local individual who desperately needs a job or could even result in layoffs of some of your current staff. But in the current economy, ignoring the cost benefits of outsourcing may not be an option. Here are some things to consider if you’re thinking about outsourcing for your medical practice.

After all of the website updates, Facebook posts, newsletter sends, print advertisements, and other elements of your marketing mix are placed in front of patients and potential patients, how do you determine the effectiveness of each and whether or not you should continue to invest time and money in them? The answer lies mostly (but not totally, as will be explained later) in your ROI, or return on investment. ROI is the primary indicator of how your marketing measures up.

Determining ROI is not difficult, but it can be complicated. You’ll need to know the cost of each marketing campaign and the amount of revenue that was generated by each campaign. The reason this can be complicated is due to tracking – if you are the practice manager for a plastic surgeon’s office and a new patient comes in for a face lift, how will you know what motivated her to choose your physician?

As a practice manager, you are probably aware of media coverage of the physician shortage in the US and the fact that the roles of nurse practitioners and physicians are expanding to meet that shortage. However, some physicians and even some patients are resistant to the change. Whether or not it has influenced your medical practice at this point, how will the expanding roles of nurse practitioners and physician assistants affect physicians?

One positive aspect of this change is that physicians can be freed up to perform more complex revenue-generating procedures because they are spending less time on basic evaluations and general patient care. This is especially positive because of the large number of uninsured individuals who are entering the nation’s patient pool and who will require care for minor illnesses and accidents. The expanding role of NPs and PAs will help keep pace with a growing base of patients who require general care.

Reassuring patients about prescriptions and procedures often falls to medical staff in a physician’s office. By the time patients have thanked the doctor and arrived at the checkout desk, they’ve had plenty of time to come up with objections and fears that need to be addressed. Addressing these concerns is important, because otherwise patients can be noncompliant with the physician’s instructions, possibly complicating their situations and definitely impacting the medical practice’s revenue.