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Get patients on your side

Not every patient walks in the door with a smile - and for good reason. Some of them are worried about their health, but others simply aren't convinced you are glad to see them. Once in awhile an employee will get so caught up with what he or she must accomplish during the patient visit that they leave their table manners behind. This doesn't make a patient feel important.

When patients think you care they get on your side. This will save time and contribute to making your day run smoother.

Here's three easy tips that will get the patient on your side:

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Shabby isn't Chic!

When was the last time you looked around your office with a critical eye? It may be time to take down those 1980s drapes and silk flowers, and put on a new vibe with cool paints. It doesn't take much to bring your office up to date, but when you fail to do it you look like you are "Stuck in the Past."

Your office reception room should look sharp and up to date, and give the feeling of a comfortable room in your home -- good lighting, good reading, and a sense of friendliness.

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What Makes a Practice Great?

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What's Your Time Worth?

Doctors and managers work hard to keep the practice afloat and provide good care, and service to the patients. But it's not just about working hard, it's about working smart!

Ask yourself what your time is worth? Physicians and managers are the drivers of the practice and need to work at the highest level to generate and protect the revenue that keeps the practice running. Too often when working with practices, I see sabotage that results in poor management of your most important commodity - time!

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Your future may seem like a roller coaster ride - So What?

Yeah life in the medical practice isn't what it use to be, but neither is driving in the fast lane. Your best road to success is to focus on the positive and to realize you have choices. No more grumbling about what is wrong with the system - it's time to take action. Here's what you can do....

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How to be a better-performing practice

We hear a lot these days about best-practices, benchmarks and key performance indicators, but what does it really take to be a better-performing practice?

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Talk to me

Communicating better improves morale and performance, and cuts down on turnover. Poor communication wastes time and makes those you interact with feel discounted.

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Top-down a killer for practice performance

If you want to get the most out of staff, keep them happy and keep them keeping the patients happy, pay close attention to these facts.

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Dr. Newbie may be sinking

I've seen too many practices go through one, two and even three associates over a short period of time. They get sour and think young doctors just aren't what they use to be. Maybe, but maybe you aren't the same either.

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A Winning Team

Employees emulate management, so if you want a winning team you gotta set the example. Positive interaction with staff drives better performance and makes everyone as winner. It's all about the tude, the attitude! Here's my top list of BE attitudes:

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The Lunch Hour Debacle

If you shut down the phones during the lunch hour you are on the fast track to losing potential new patients and aggravating existing ones. It also results in greater phone traffic when the lines open up again, resulting in chaos.

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Our Mission

Our mission is to make your practice shine.

Our vision to achieve this:

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Five things you can do to bring money in the door

Staff Can Make a Difference!

Set up solid financial policies the physicians will endorse and establish methods to improve collection of patient payments. Here's six actions you can take:

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Get What You Deserve

Are you taking a hit on revenue?
If you are not analyzing your reimbursement from different payer source and don't have a clear understanding of what it cost to see a patient you may be taking a hit that you can't afford.

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Need help? Contact Judy Capko
Judy is one of America's leading practice management and marketing consultants. e mail judy@capko.com

Announcing the release of the 2nd edition of the runaway best-selling book Secrets of the Best-Run Practices. To check it out go to www.capko.com and click on the book icon.

Energize Your Website

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More on EHR government funding

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What you should know about electronic health records

The government's push for physicians to get on board with electronic health records, EHRs, is outlined in the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA, of 2009 which has changed the landscape regarding electronic medical records.

Federal stimulus funds are available that promise as much as $44,000 per physician to implement EHRs before the end of 2012.

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