September 30, 2021
7 Administrative Tasks to Ensure Your Healthcare Practice Is Set for Success and How to Delegate Them
Launching a healthcare practice is one of the most exciting, yet challenging, times in your life.
Like most doctors, physical therapists, acupuncturists, and other specialists, your passion has always been about caring for patients. Working for an employer has its limitations, but the decision to step out on your own comes with its own challenges. While you gain a sense of freedom, you risk being consumed by juggling everything by yourself. The complete process from making a plan to running your practice involves very complex and time-consuming tasks. As a medical practitioner and business owner, focusing on the right administrative tasks and knowing how to streamline and delegate them is vital for the success of your healthcare practice.
Task 1: Business Planning
Anything that involves multifaceted tasks to achieve an end goal should start with a detailed plan to ensure everything is organized. When establishing a new practice, a written business plan helps you create a strategy and appeal to lenders. You may also opt to write a pro forma, which is shorter but still covers business expenses, debt, and revenue. That entails competitive analysis and plans for administration, operations and management, marketing, and finances.
If you need help, Advantrix can be there every step of the way. Look to our comprehensive “Practice Setup” assistance program to get you started.
Task 2: Business Legalization
While the business plan serves as a blueprint, there are a few start-up tasks that need to be accomplished. Some of these involve application processes that can take months, so be sure to plan well in advance. Before you can secure funding and treat patients, you need to legitimize your company by:
- Registering the practice with a state agency,
- Signing up for a federal tax identification number (EIN),
- Opening a business bank account,
- Getting medical liability insurance, and
- Applying for Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement credentials.
Your medical practice can be formed one of many ways, including as a sole proprietorship, general partnership or limited liability partnership (LLP), C corporation or S corporation, and limited liability company (LLC). A tax and legal advisor can help you determine which is best to minimize your risks and taxes. Advantrix provides credentialing services to guide you through processing all paperwork.
Task 3: Office and Equipment Leasing or Purchasing
When you’ve laid out your plan and secured financing, finding an office location and equipment could be another overwhelming task. You will need office furnishings, equipment, hardware, supplies, utilities, and clothing. Your medical clinic will need various software and applications as well, including:
- An electronic record system (EHR)
- A practice management system (PMS)
- Billing and accounting software
- Medical transcription software
- Employee background checks
- Credit card processor
Your options may vary widely but consider everything you need to make your practice run smoothly. Rather than doing it all yourself, you might outsource some of these tasks. Advantrix offers IT Services designed to help you set up and maintain all the equipment you need.
Task 4: Workflow Management
Your human resources (HR) department will be important to set up. This is the part where you focus on the department’s specific goals and objectives and create workflow processes to achieve them. Before hiring staff, you need to define employee roles, set up payroll, and arrange a benefits package. You’ll also want to create an employee handbook that summarizes office policies and benefits.
Another important task is to assess your practice’s security risk. To maintain HIPAA and MACRA compliance, you must address issues related to the privacy and security of your patients. This will require documenting a plan for handling all protected health information (PHI), PHI storage, security measures, a strategy for mitigating potential threats, and preparing a notice of privacy practices (NPP) for patients to sign.
Task 5: Staff Recruitment: Hiring, Training, and Supervising
Once your HR workflow management is in place, it’s time to recruit employees to staff your clinic. At this point, you should already know the number of team members you need. Some roles you may need to fill include:
- Receptionist and scheduler
- Medical biller and coder
- Medical assistant and nurse
- Medicare compliance officer
The hiring process is typically accomplished with the help of your office manager or a designated HR officer. You can also take advantage of outsourcing, such as having Advantrix train your staff. This can free up your healthcare administrator to focus on other important tasks.
Task 6: Marketing and Promotion
You can’t treat anyone if they don’t know you exist. Marketing’s purpose is to get the word out there, so patients become interested in your clinical services. You can approach marketing in various ways, but here are a few tips:
- Network with colleagues.
- Join associations and social networks.
- Create an online presence.
- Join community outreach programs.
Few medical professionals have much expertise in marketing. Even if you or the office manager does, there’s probably not enough time or energy for you to do it all. Advantrix has a team that can do a complete web design and set up for you. The service includes content writing and graphic design to ensure that you maintain an effective online presence for your practice.
Task 7: Practice Opening and Evaluation
As you progress past the point of being a new practice, you’ll want to evaluate how things are going. This helps you identify issues so you can improve the quality and efficiency of your practice. Also, as technology and patient needs change rapidly, staying up-to-date will maintain your competitive advantage. Consider hiring an advisor or consultant to help. Experts like Advantrix ensure your practice runs like a well-oiled machine.
Becoming your own boss offers many perks, especially freedom from the constraints of working for other healthcare providers. The tradeoff is that you take on all of the responsibilities for the business as well as patient management and communication. We provide healthcare professionals with all the tools they need to get their business off the ground. Whether you’re just getting started or plans are already in motion, we can help you every step of the way. We even offer assistance with recruitment.
Try our “Practice Set Up” solution by reaching out to Advantrix today.
