Eyeworld

62 | EYEWORLD | DECEMBER 2019 I NSIDE THE PRACTICE By Corinne Wohl, MHSA, COE, and John B. Pinto mine whether each report is shared with the doctors, managers, and employees who need to see it and if others need to be added to or deleted from the distribution list. • Review the practice's meetings schedule. In mid-size and larger practices these would include general staff and departmental meet- ings, provider meetings, board meetings, and focused task force sessions to address acute problems. Do you have the right number and frequency of meetings? Do these meetings provide just the right amount of communi- cation with all the right people? Especially as a managing partner, take the time to attend each meeting (even the ones you typically would not attend.) Revisit the purpose and goals of each meeting or committee. Ask attendees what value each meeting brings to them…and then fix the gaps your questions reveal. As we commonly see in the field, your practice may need a refresher course on how to run an effective board meeting. Or your managers may need a refresher course on how to prepare for, run, and then follow-up after a department meeting. • Written communication is necessary, par- ticularly in multi-physician practices. Op- erations manuals, policies and procedures, and meeting minutes all provide the clarity and direction needed to stay organized and provide confidence to employees that they are working in line with your expectations. These documents are used at many levels: on-board- ing new hires, re-credentialing, refreshing out- dated methods, and helping employees hear a clear and consistent message. All this written formality that helps to manage the practice actually saves time despite the considerable preparation and editing work. Take the time to review your practice's standards for written communication. If practice scale has out-run the formality of your communication, make improvements in this area a priority for 2020. S uccesses and failures aren't always under your control. External influence or internal under-the-radar surprises are always looming. Rather than ignore or worry about this lack of control, which most of us working in ophthal- mology have a hard time stomaching, you can reduce the impact of stressful business surprises by periodically getting back to the basics of practice management. Shake off the routine. Take your practice performance reviews off autopilot. Take a deeper dive into the details of the practice. Here are three ways to renew your ability to see with fresh eyes the successes and failures hiding within the practice right now. Start with these three refreshers, and then think through other "back-to-basics" approaches with the rest of your administrative team. 1. Look with fresh eyes Imagine you are starting your practice owner- ship or administrator position anew. It's not un- usual to stop noticing what has become familiar. It's common to hear a new doctor or employee point out stained carpeting or question an outdated policy when everyone else became accustomed to overlooking the obvious. Take a do-over with a fresh on-boarding orientation for yourself. Pretend you were starting your present job all over again. What would you need to learn? With this exercise, assume you know very little about the practice and don't skip any steps. A typical orientation list for a new doctor-own- er or administrator (make yours much longer) would include: • Review all financial and patient accounting reports. The basics include balance sheets and profit and loss statements, accounts receivable aging reports, and utilization stats. Learn how to interpret each one. Assess whether each report provides data that helps the practice make decisions or if the report can be exam- ined less often, eliminated, or refined. Deter- Three ways to add new control to your business life About the authors Corinne Z. Wohl, MHSA, COE President, C. Wohl & Associates, Inc. San Diego John Pinto President, J. Pinto & Associates, Inc. San Diego

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