A Basic Perspective on Small Office Communication - by Jordan Levin
For small medical practices staff meetings usually occur as needed and wherever people happen to be, exam room, consultation room, at the front desk - gathering 2-3 people is easy. But some small offices have gone the other way and embraced technology usually targeted for larger offices or clinics. Is this better? Do you accomplish the same things? Is something lost in translation? The right solution to your office communication needs depends on your preferences, but don’t let expectations and norms lead you down paths that you aren’t comfortable with. Small offices do better with direct face to face communication unless patient volume demands a technology driven solution and large offices and clinics do better with a combination of in-person and multiplatform technological solutions.
Large offices and clinics have the benefit of more resources. Aside from phone calls between staff, email and texting, or EHR messaging, have become the norm. They allow communication between staff without disrupting workflow whilst also managing to retain personnel where they are needed. Email can efficiently distribute office policies for later review and maintain a record that everyone received it. It creates a chain of communication so that errors and miscommunication can be traced. But is it effective in all aspects, no. People tend to have over-cluttered inboxes. They use personal cell phones for work and text messages get lost in an endless stream of messages. Unless a staff is very well-trained electronic communication can get ignored, lost, or forgotten. Unless you are planning to expand your practice stick with what works.
Small offices are often thought of as meeting higher patient satisfaction rates. This is true because minimal staff can get to know patients personally. There is no need for virtual phone systems. Email is slower than calling. With that said, the staff meetings of small offices are also more effective if you keep technology out. Physicians should be able to speak face to face with their support staff, even if its only 1-2 people. This ensures quality of communication, an instant give and take that leaves everyone on the same page. Email and text messaging, or EHR internal messaging, is slower and less efficient when the person you need to communicate with is in the next room. Think about it, would you type out a prescription in a text message for your staff to send to the pharmacy if you can just tell them? Using electronic solutions, in this case, is best used to reiterate verbally discussed items about policy and items that are not needed that moment.
Large offices and clinics often lack the luxury of direct interpersonal communication these days. An August 3, 2019 article in the Wall Street Journal, by Sharon Terlep, “Everyone Hates Customer Service. This Is Why. Technology lets companies see how badly they can treat consumers, right up until the moment they bolt”, points out that large companies utilize technology and advanced metrics to help them deal with customers, to the benefit or detriment of their customers. While the article references other industries, the medical industry is similarly situated. Think about how frustrating it is for you and our staff to call insurance companies – the hold times are abusive, the calls are wasteful of everyone’s time, and in the end you very often feel like the call was unproductive at best and infuriating at worst. It’s a good bet after your call you feel like strangling someone and never want to deal with that carrier again. Now think about your patients, you don’t want them thinking that about your practice. You also don’t want your staff thinking that about you if they have to wait for an answer to a text or email when you are in the next room. Lager practices might be able to use technological solutions, but they may wind up failing their patients and staff, just like the carriers fail you.
Small practices should keep it simple. Answering the phone when a patient calls or returning a message in a timely manor are the keys to basic patient satisfaction. Even if your office is unable to meet the needs of each patient, the fact that they are able to reach you, a live person, is a huge positive. Now keep thinking along those lines, Staff satisfaction is similarly increased when they are able to speak in person to those above them, in any business. Sending emails and texts, are impersonal and lack context. Even if your office has 1-2 employees or 5, having an open-door policy where staff can speak with the physician or office manager will help avoid conflict, solve problems faster, and keep the office running. Medical offices are a very unique business, any miscommunication or misunderstandings can lead not just to a lost patient or staff departure, but may lead to a malpractice suit. The physician or office manager must be able to effectively communicate with their staff – in person, especially in small offices.
Running a successful practice takes a lot of hard work. You must make sure patients medical care is taken care of, that nothing falls between the cracks, and also juggle the business side, staffing, billing, collections, paying your overhead, and so much more. Keep your stress level down, and keep it simple stupid. Small offices need small solutions, don’t jump into a technological solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. You will waste time and create a problem you were trying to avoid in the first place. Open communication all around is key. You can save your time, the staff’s time, and the patients’ time keeping it simple. And if you have your heart set on using technology, only use it to reiterate something communicated verbally, your patients, staff, malpractice carrier, and wallet will thank you for it later.