Preventive Medicine: The Newest Trend in Healthcare and Wellness

As they say, “times, they are a changing” and in the world of healthcare, things are no different. 

Healthcare has been moving over the last several years into a preventative mode rather than a reactive mode. We are seeing more effort and more emphasis placed on maintaining good health rather than waiting until the treatment of bad health is required.  The science of medicine has discovered that your body is talking long before the symptoms of a disease process are detectable by our standard five senses.

Offices are using new technologies in laboratory testing, autonomic testing, and genetic testing to ensure that we are catching disease processes as early as possible and test the body’s ability to utilize the drugs that you are prescribing for your patients.

Some of these new technologies require the physician to change his processes and ask new questions outside of the box, others the brunt of the work falls the support staff. In almost all cases the discussion or the seed is planted by the support staff, even if the completion of the decision to test or treat is made by the physician.

One of the complaints/issues offices face when implementing services and new tests such as these is that the staff is often seeing an increase in their job duties associated with these new technologies, and also is often aware of the revenue that such a new technology can bring to a practice. This can lead to staff that is less than concerned about referring, suggesting, or starting the conversation with patients about the new technology or services your office may be utilizing.

One of the best ways to keep the frontlines motivated is to offer bonuses and have contests for the most patients referred to a new service or technology.  This keeps the competition friendly and fun and can keep staff motivated to continue to let the patients know about the newest technology and services your office is offering.

How are you implementing these new technologies into your practice? Are the disrupting the flow or moving things along? What is your favorite new gadget, tool, or service? How do you keep your staff motivated and engaged in the new technology?