1. Assess your case load to make sure your office building is the right size. The building in which a practice is located can affect profitability almost as much as the operations that go on inside of it. According to Curt Mayse, a principal with LarsonAllen, many orthopedic and spine physicians love big buildings, thinking that a bigger space is a better space. At the same token, many physicians choose to remain at a cramped space when it may be wise for them to expand their practices. Both of these missteps can cause problems for a practice’s profitability.
“Physicians need to consider the scope and the layout of a facility that can effectively manage the caseload they have,” Mr. Mayse says. This means that office space must be large enough to comfortably accommodate the patients a practice will see in a day but not too much that there is wasted space. By paying too much on rent or limiting the number of patients a practice can see because of lack of space, the costs can add up over time, according to Mr. Mayse.
2. Re-purpose office space that is usually empty. Cost-effective orthopedic practices often employ lean management tactics, which means having only enough resources to run the practice. For example, Rothman Institute makes sure all its space is revenue generating space. “We don’t have a lot of empty offices,” says Todd Albert, MD, spine surgeon and president of Rothman Institute in Philadelphia. This might mean surgeons will share business office space because the surgeons are often with patients, at the hospital or surgery center or fulfilling teaching responsibilities elsewhere. The extra space is re-purposed for clinical or business functions.
3. Minimize the distance between offices and clinical rooms by centralizing staff. Some orthopedic practices have individual staff offices and clinical rooms spread throughout the space. However, centralizing the staff into a single location and separating them with cubicles can maximize the actual space used and minimize the distance between the staff member’s desk and the rest of the practice. The close proximity between nurses, physician assistants and the surgeons also promotes better communication.
4. Digitize paper records. Sierra Regional Spine Institute in Reno has six physicians and four mid-level practitioners, says Penny Forbes, practice administrator. At any given time we have four providers and six medical assistants in a very small area sharing nine patient rooms. To alleviate some of this crush we scanned all of our paper charts, pulled out the metal file system and have converted this area to a work space for our medical assistants. We rotate the MAs out of clinic on days the MAs don’t support clinic patients, thus opening the clinic work space to those who do. In the end, we have effectively removed unneeded bodies from clinic, which has opened up space for providers with patients to work more effectively.
