The start to a new year — and a new decade, for that matter — provides a great opportunity for reorganization and reevaluation both personally and professionally. Many of us will have spent time reorganizing our homes from the busy holiday season. It is also a good time to begin reevaluating even the simplest of tasks within your business’s four walls. A great way we have found to organize tasks is into the three following categories:
Cultural
Operational
Financial
Cultural processes are those that drive the people side of the business.
- Do you consistently conduct 1x1s, staff meetings, quarterly business reviews, and the like?
- Do you have your employee documentation in order (i.e., I9s, updated W-4s, etc.)?
- Does your staff know your mission and vision statement?
- Does your practice have mission and vision statements?
Operational processes are those that drive the mission of the business.
- Are front office processes consistently followed by individuals and the collective?
- Are providers utilizing a Patients for Life® approach to patient care?
- Are outbound calls completed consistently?
- Are inbound calls conducted in a consistent and thorough manner?
Financial processes are those that set your business up for continued monetary success.
- Do you have strong controls in place to ward against fraud?
- Do you collect from patients in a timely manner when they are fit with new technology?
- If you offer payment terms to patients, are those terms documented and followed by everyone in the practice?
- Do you know what your payment schedules are with any insurers you may work with?
- Are you operating with at least three months of expenses in your cash reserves?
The above are just a few examples of how every process within your business can be categorized and evaluated. It’s important to do this as it helps you and your team (SBU and the like) determine where opportunities exist for continuous improvement. Your SBU team is here and ready to help ensure 2020 is your best year yet!