Physicians who run their own practices have plenty of work on their plate. Many are involved in all of the different aspects of the business, and while that is admirable, it also means longer hours and an increasing problem of stress and burnout among medical professionals.

And while more are acknowledging that a team-based approach is the solution, the process of picking which tasks to delegate and which to keep is one that many struggle with. The key is figuring out qualifications. The physicians have spent plenty of time studying to be experts in patient care – performing physical exams, diagnosing problems and developing treatment plans are obviously best left to the doctors. But there are other parts of the business that assistants and support staff are qualified to do, and that can be a huge time-saver.

Administrative and front desk tasks

There’s a lot more to running a practice than just the patient care. There’s managing of patient schedules, handling of incoming and outgoing documents, data input, communication including phone calls and e-mails, even patient satisfaction.

All of these are important tasks that do not actually require physicians’ direct attention. That means that doctors can focus on spending more time with the patients and less with dealing with paperwork and the like.

Financial matters

Physician-owners want to be involved in all parts of the practice, especially the sensitive ones like financial matters. But leaving financial discussions to competent business support staff can actually be a huge benefit for the practice. The handling of billing of patients, insurance, accounting and other matters will save doctors plenty of time.

This is why the hiring of new employees must be strategic, and the addition of new hires with complementary skill sets, like business and finance expertise, can be a huge boon for independently run practices.

Medical tasks

Believe it or not, not all medical-related tasks need to be handled by the doctors themselves. Nurses or medical assistants that have training can actually lighten the load considerably. The collection of patient histories, discussion of lab results, and even basic steps in the physical exam can actually be accomplished by assistants, as well as more thorough reviews of treatment plans at the end of the process. This allows the physicians to focus on the parts that actually require their expertise and spend less time with each patient without compromising any of the quality.

With a well-organized workflow that makes the most of each member of the support staff, physicians can have more efficient practices that allows them to see more patients per day while not putting as much strain on themselves – and that can only benefit everyone in the long run.

For any questions on how TukkoMed can help your practice, contact us for a consultation about the services we can provide to support medical professionals and businesses.

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