Second, the organization needs to communicate the strategic plan. This communication must be clear and concise. If business leaders are feeling very stressed about the company’s future, every employee will feel it too. Employees may start worrying about the stability of the company and will start looking for other job prospects. Covering up the situation only serves to push employees away even faster. Ten CEO’s from across the country were asked about communicating their company’s financial situation to employees and all 10 agreed that “being a straight shooter” was necessary for leading through hard times.11 One CEO even suggested sharing financial statistics with her employees, putting them in easy to understand charts and graphs, discussing fixed costs and minimum volume necessary to avoid hemorrhaging cash.12
Counterintuitive Spending
Increasing expenditure when everyone else is rationing may seem contradictory to the recommendation of traditional cost-cutting. On further analysis however, there are three specific areas where increased spending is actually investing in your business’ future and can keep the organization stable. First, use technology to reduce overhead; second, invest in your employees; and last, increase your marketing expenditure.
Claims from the current administration that electronic health records will reduce healthcare cost may or may not save our healthcare system.13 Over the last few years, the frenzy of tech companies offering the latest electronic system has waned to some extent as most physicians have discovered some of the financial and operational pitfalls. Using software, however, can reduce a portion of overhead that would otherwise be spent on human labor. Admittedly, there is an uncomfortable period of transition if the practice has been in existence prior to the technology boom.
Focusing on key areas such as insurance verification procedures is where the use of technology will help create more efficiency. Payers have automated verification procedures, providing online access to patient benefits. Implementing systems to allow patients to complete their own verification in your waiting room (or even from home) can save front desk personnel from being tied up on a 20-minute verification call. The information can then be integrated into the practice management software to speed check-in times. You don’t need to spend a lot on a complete EMR; even the smallest increment may save thousands of dollars.
Email this article
Add a comment
Printer version
Order reprints
RSS Feed
Bookmark article