Operations

Another selection from our weekly e-mail newsletter. This issue: Preparing for natural (and unnatural) disasters.

Keeping your patients happy is crucial to a thriving practice. And you can do it without breaking the bank. Check out these five low-cost, creative ways to keep them happy and coming back to see you.

What do the best-performing practices all have in common? What do they know that you don’t? We dig deep to find the answers. Hint: It’s not as complicated as you might think.

Change is hard on everyone, but sometimes it’s for the best. Here’s how to help staff accept it - and embrace it.

We were worried about Roy Gondo, the likeable but disorganized family physician we told you about last year. He was up to his neck in incomplete charts and saddled with staffing difficulties. You’ll be surprised with what we found when we checked in again - and with what you can learn.

It’s almost the end of the year. But before you break out the party hats, take some time to give your practice its annual exam. What do you need to do before Baby New Year arrives?

Here’s how to say what the boss doesn’t want to hear.

Obtain staff buy-in for a teamwork approach.

The new Medicare prescription drug plan may be good for patients, but it’s a headache for you.

Family physician Mitchell Cohen on how his practice benefits from his online auction addiction.

You love your patients. Well, most of them, anyway. But every practice has its share of annoying, demanding, and sometimes downright infuriating patients. Better know how to handle them, or they’ll handle you.

How to select appropriate office artwork. (Yes, it matters.)

A Virginia urology practice is struggling with a monster schedule and high staff turnover. Our expert Laurie Hyland Robertson comes to the rescue.

Between big chain pharmacies, mail-order pharmacies, and forgetful patients, practices these days are inundated with prescription paperwork. Rapport with pharmacies may be at an all-time low. Here are some tips for reducing the burden - and improving relations.

What are you supposed to do when you’re losing money on procedures and services? Must you simply eat the cost in order to serve the patient’s interest?

With hundreds of new drugs entering the market every year, where can you turn for reliable information?

What do you do when your overhead seems beyond your control? Makeover maven Laurie Hyland Robertson helps a North Carolina OB/GYN practice find the answers.

Sometimes what you say is stronger than any treatment or medications you may prescribe.

A Virginia psychiatrist on nonphysician providers.

The five biggest mistakes managers make - and how to avoid them.

Another selection from our weekly e-mail newsletter. This issue: Practice no-no’s.

The design, amount, and location of your practice’s physical space are becoming more important. Here’s what you need to know.

Gastroenterologist Dordaneh Maleki works in her office only part-time. Is she overstaffed?

Are you forever running behind? Does your waiting room look like a bus terminal on Thanksgiving weekend? It doesn’t have to be that way. Instead of shrugging your shoulders in resignation, try our simple plan for getting your schedule under control for good.

Employee embezzlement costs American businesses more than $652 billion a year, and physician practices are among the most vulnerable employers. Don’t be a victim: Here’s how to spot - and catch - a thief before he gets his hand in your cookie jar.

Remember why you’re in business: to provide service to your patients.

In our revamped Makeover column, expert Laurie Hyland Robertson helps a busy pediatric office solve its patient-flow problems.

Here is how physicians in every specialty can take advantage of these time-saving staffers, and make more money to boot.

Nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other nonphysician providers - don’t call ’em midlevels - are becoming commonplace in today’s practices. But if you want them to succeed, you have to be careful when introducing them to your office.

Do your patients wait weeks, or even months, for appointments? With open-access scheduling, they can come in - today.