Lately every other ad or commercial we see is promoting the latest film craze, The Hunger Games. The extremely basic plot of this story involves representatives of various districts, using their skill sets and talents to battle each other until there is but one triumphant victor left standing. Much like our own practices, we are essentially competing or at least being compared to other practices out there, yet, how do ensure that we come out on top?
The thought of it may seem daunting, but it is absolutely possible if we set our minds to it.
Truth is, it takes more than a great physician and a busy schedule to make a great practice. While both are essential to the foundation, we simply cannot survive by depending on or even seeking out these two things alone.
This past February, at the AAPPM Mid-Winter Conference, they spoke of the importance of not only working in your practice, but taking time to work on your practice — this is the element that will help your practice rise above. It’s easy to get inundated in our work and there certainly are patients to tend to, however, if we do not intentionally carve out the time to focus on our practice and address areas that need our attention, you may find yourself in a situation where you are no longer overwhelmed with patients. In fact, the exact opposite could be true.
Whether it’s maintaining your internal marketing efforts, your web-based marketing, or just staying on top of your team so that they’re managed and maintained, it’s absolutely important to realize that these areas cannot be overlooked and pushed aside. They demand the same time and attention that any patient would. Just as you would never leave a patient in the waiting room as you head out for the night and tell them you’ll get to them tomorrow, we must also make sure not to push our marketing efforts or tasks to the side.
Every practice can experience an overwhelming amount of patients to see and a jam-packed schedule that leaves little room for
much else. However, the victor will be the physician that sees a few less patients in order to tend to any marketing/management needs – the physician that not only works in the practice, but is also intentional about setting aside time to work on the practice.
By Chad Schwarz
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