A Case Study in Freedom: How a Practice
got more with less, one doctor's experience.
The Old Way
When we got our EMR, we
immediately saw the benefits. But the downside
took a while to figure out. One of the biggest
problems was that it changed the nature of
our staffing. Now we could not hire temporary
workers when we were short staffed. They could
not learn the software fast enough to be useful. Also any new
staff we hired took at least six weeks to become fluent with the
office software. This only slowed down our existing staff.
So we found ourselves in the position of struggling with our labor costs and structure. We had to hire skilled workers from a labor pool that was shrinking and getting expensive. And then we discovered Angels.
We were amazed when we first heard about it.Virtual workers?
We looked around our office and realized that we were almost there. Our billing and coding was done at one office, scheduling at another. The doctors covered several offices in the region and communicated via phone, fax, and email. Our phone was answered by an answering service during off hours. We outsourced our transcription to the Philippines.
Almost 50% of our leased space was for activities that virtual staff could do. We could build more exam and procedure rooms and generate more revenue per square feet. Connected via the Internet, Angels took up no space and yet were skilled and worked in the office. They performed the same tasks done by the existing staff but were less expensive. We kept our best employees and had them focus on patient satisfaction. Small things like more parking spots, less bathroom/kitchen issues, and less management headaches have greatly improved our lives.
We are in a high cost neighborhood. Our rent and labor is expensive. Angels built a HIPAA compliant virtual office in a lower cost area and manages it for us. They hired the staff, trained them, and we just lease them. We now have a safety net by always having just the right amount of skilled staff.
With Angels, we have freedom from most of our headaches and make more in less time. Back<<
So we found ourselves in the position of struggling with our labor costs and structure. We had to hire skilled workers from a labor pool that was shrinking and getting expensive. And then we discovered Angels.
We were amazed when we first heard about it.Virtual workers?
We looked around our office and realized that we were almost there. Our billing and coding was done at one office, scheduling at another. The doctors covered several offices in the region and communicated via phone, fax, and email. Our phone was answered by an answering service during off hours. We outsourced our transcription to the Philippines.
Almost 50% of our leased space was for activities that virtual staff could do. We could build more exam and procedure rooms and generate more revenue per square feet. Connected via the Internet, Angels took up no space and yet were skilled and worked in the office. They performed the same tasks done by the existing staff but were less expensive. We kept our best employees and had them focus on patient satisfaction. Small things like more parking spots, less bathroom/kitchen issues, and less management headaches have greatly improved our lives.
We are in a high cost neighborhood. Our rent and labor is expensive. Angels built a HIPAA compliant virtual office in a lower cost area and manages it for us. They hired the staff, trained them, and we just lease them. We now have a safety net by always having just the right amount of skilled staff.
With Angels, we have freedom from most of our headaches and make more in less time. Back<<
