Running a medical practice is more complicated than you may think. That is also the case for functional medicine. There is much more to be done than simply providing care. Many practice owners struggle with mountains of paperwork. As a result, it can take a long time to create treatment plans, increasing stress levels within the practice. Fortunately, there is a different way of doing things.
What happens when an organization goes entirely paperless? An organized, automated, and proactive way of working promotes a calm atmosphere in the practice. Additionally, it comes with financial benefits. By working more efficiently, you can treat more clients within the same timeframe. In other words, it increases profits!
Through automated processes, you can create a treatment plan with just a few clicks—and a lower margin of error. This automation of processes sounds complex, but it is easier than you would expect. Implementing the right software is a major step in the right direction.
Invest first, implement next
The functional redesign of a practice requires some investment—time investment, specifically. However, that investment will end up saving time in the long run. It may take a few days to set up the software, like Practiceflow, in a way that works best for you. Starting that process as soon as possible will create the best results.
You might decide not to use software or to postpone that transition for a while. In that case, it won’t take long for current habits to become obstacles and for chaos to persist.
But how does the software implementation work?
Step 1: Take inventory of your current process
Each practice has its own process, whether consciously or not. A client makes an appointment and comes to the practice, a treatment plan is written out, and a lab requisition is ordered. The organization of your processes may leave something to be desired. In that situation, automation could seem out of reach.
Rediscovering the correct processes is the first step. You could surely take stock of those processes yourself. If that’s too tricky a task, though, Practiceflow includes a built-in ‘best practice’ tool. That allows you to duplicate what highly organized practices are already doing. You might just learn something from them, and save yourself a lot of time in the process.
Step 2: Chart your requirements
Next, it’s time to map out your needs. What is important to your practice? Which steps do you want to better organize and automate? Create a list. Maybe you’ve lost the big-picture overview, or files are difficult to track down. Where did those documents from five years ago end up?
Perhaps you frequently deal with patient no-shows; that’s another issue you can respond to. How great would it be for clients to receive an appointment reminder? Those types of things are all possible through automated processes.
Step 3: Choose your software
If you choose to use software, there are multiple options. For example, Practiceflow offers a very efficient and easy system that lets you combine all processes. This requires hardly any technical knowledge. In the next step, we will outline the implementation of the Practiceflow system.
Step 4: Start the implementation
Once you’re ready to get started with Practiceflow, you can access our onboarding support to help implement your software. An important element of this implementation is data migration, which consists of moving your current client database into the new system. That might sound like weeks of work, but it’s not nearly as involved as it sounds. It can be as easy as supplying an Excel file of the current data.
Ultimately, it’s mainly key to free up a bit of time to set up the new system. That process will take about 9 to 10 hours. You can easily spread out those hours over several days. If you don’t have that kind of time available, you can save hours by starting with the most frequently used supplements, for example. Anything else can follow later. The full process consists of the steps below.
| Step | Action | Minutes |
| 1. | Create account | 5 |
| 2. | Enter practice information | 5 |
| 3. | Set up date and time settings | 2 |
| 4. | Set currency used | 1 |
| 5. | Input hours of business, time slots, and calendar | 3 |
| 6. | Set country | 1 |
| 7. | E-mail setup (SMTP), if desired | 10 |
| 8. | Import existing clients | 20 |
| 9. | Add services offered | 30 |
| 10. | Add practitioners and staff | 10 |
| 11. | Add supplements used | 120* |
| 12. | Add medications used | 60 |
| 13. | Add lab requisitions used | 30 |
| 14. | Add diagnostic tests | 20 |
| 15. | Add IV fluids ampoules | 120 |
| 16. | Add injection fluid ampoules | 30 |
| 17. | Add laboratories | 15 |
| 18. | Add treatment requirements (pdf or video) | 60 |
* Please note: you don’t need to invest two hours in adding supplements before you can get started. If necessary, add them in while drawing up a treatment plan. Working that way, implementation will take a lot less time!
Try Practiceflow for free
Time to turn the chaos into order? Practiceflow can definitely be a solution. Better organization of your functional medicine practice will save you time while you increase your profits. Of course, you can try Practiceflow for free before committing. Watch our demo first, or try it for free for 30 days right now.