7 Signs of Inefficiency at Large Chiropractic Practices

Running a large chiropractic practice is a constant balancing act. You want to provide the highest quality of care to your patients, but you need to do so in the most efficient and cost-effective manner in order to maximize your profitability.

Small inefficiencies only get magnified in large chiropractic practices and add up quickly.

Does it seem like every time you turn around, there’s more paperwork to do? It’s not your imagination. According to the American Medical Association, a third of doctors spend twenty hours or more on paperwork and administrative tasks weekly. That’s time spent away from seeing patients or working on other ways to grow your business.

Let’s look at the warning signs of inefficiency in large chiropractic practices.

Signs of Inefficiency in Large Chiropractic Practices

Take a look at these signs and see if any sound familiar. If so, it may be time to make a change to improve your efficiency.

1. Not having a true integrated EHR system with one database

If you have to enter data multiple times due to disparate practice management systems that don’t talk to each other, you are adding to your administrative burden and are more likely to make errors.

A lack of consistency is a significant problem, especially if patients make appointments at different locations.

Another sign of efficiency is when you have difficulty toggling between locations or have to sign in and out of different systems to access information.

2. Manual intake

Your patient flow is crucial to moving patients efficiently through their visits. Requiring patients to write down their information and then having someone transfer that information into your EHR system takes time. It can also create unnecessary paperwork, especially since in today’s connected environment, all of this can be done electronically ahead of time.

3. Manual reminder calls

The average no-show rate for practices is nearly 20%, and each one is lost revenue. No-shows also tie up patient slots and staff time in order to track down patients and rebook them. Reminders are essential for chiropractic offices. But if you’re still doing them manually, you may be wasting time. An automated reminder call system tied to your schedule can solve this problem.

4. SOAP notes not automatically converting to claims

Chiropractic offices can spend a significant amount of time creating claims. When SOAP notes don’t automatically convert to file-ready claims, it means someone has to manually process the information.

5. Billing and claims done in each location

Without a consolidated system, many large chiropractic practices must handle billing and claims at each location, which ties up multiple staff members.

If practices do consolidate billing functions, they need a simple way to access information and move it back and forth. If you’re forced to email, fax, or call to send the details that you need for billing, it’s a sure sign of inefficiency.

6. Difficulty in reporting

It shouldn’t be difficult or time-consuming to pull the reports that you need. You should be able to easily see roll-up reports for your entire practice, with drill-down capabilities to any office, segment, or individual.

7. Workflow bottlenecks

Anywhere you see a bottleneck in your workflow, there’s an opportunity to improve your efficiency. If there are multiple sources of information or any manual processes, you need to investigate whether there is a better way to do things.

For example:

• Even if you’re using an EHR, do you still have paperwork or charts that you need to pull for patients, or is everything in an electronic form and attached to patients for easy retrieval?
• Can you create Auto-SALT notes so you don’t have to rekey information?
• Is your payment system integrated with your practice management software so you can simplify reconciliation?
• Does your system automatically calculate copay and insurance?

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Solutions for Solving Inefficiency in Large Chiropractic Practices

When you have a consolidated EHR with true multi-location support, you can mitigate inefficiency in your large practice. ChiroSpring makes it easy to toggle between locations and pull up any information that you need from any site. This enables you to consolidate administration tasks and potentially reduce staffing. You can also shift responsibilities between locations depending on the patient load on any given day.

Online scheduling, automated appointment reminders, and online intake free up considerable staff time. Nearly 80% of patients said that they prefer to schedule online, and more than a third say that they make decisions about where to go based on whether online booking is available.

Consolidating and automating as much of the billing, claims, and insurance processes as possible can significantly improve efficiency in large chiropractic practices, especially with the automatic conversion of SOAP notes into claims for electronic filing.

Another place to improve efficiency is with seamless patient work. ChiroSpring’s virtual front desk makes it easy to track and manage patients throughout their visit, regardless of which office they choose for treatment. They can virtually be moved into rooms for staff identification and color-coded for adjustment vs. consultation. When patients miss appointments, they are automatically moved into the missed column for follow-up. When appointments are complete, you can use integrated payments to collect what’s owed and easily reconcile your books.

With a comprehensive practice management system that provides efficient end-to-end processing of everything in your clinic, you can significantly reduce your administrative burden and make your large practice more efficient.

ChiroSpring is an all-in-one practice management and EHR system built specifically for chiropractors to help them regain face-time with patients, spend less time on back-office tasks, maintain a limited staff, and save operational costs.

To see how ChiroSpring can help you simplify how you manage your practice, reach out to one of our specialists today!

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