Physicians Practice - September 2008 - (Page 53) THE GREAT PRACTICE MAKEOVER GOLDEN IDEAS GOOD COMMUNICATION ENSURES EFFECTIVE DECISION MAKING AND WELL-MANAGED CHANGE BY SHIRLEY GRACE If you ask Garrett Eckerling what’s new, make sure you have plenty of time for the answer. This dynamic, forward-thinking family physician always has a project or two or 50 in the hopper, all in the name of improving his practice. Eckerling, whose solo practice is based in the California Gold Rush town of Grass Valley, constantly being in constant flux, and he’s often disappointed in the results his projects produce. “Even as much as I research — although I’m pretty quick to take things up — many don’t stand up to advertising.” For example, he invested in an in-office lab. Yes, it works, but it’s more than just the “one prick” touted by the sellers. Technically, “My whole attitude is you’ve got to keep changing, evolving, to stay one step ahead.” AN INNOVATOR Garrett Eckerling, family physician mines for the latest and greatest in terms of healthcare technology, medical equipment, and the like. “My whole attitude is you’ve got to keep changing, evolving, to stay one step ahead,” he says. You’ll never catch Eckerling with his scrubs down when it comes to what’s new, and that’s certainly to his credit. But his staff dislikes IN SUMMARY Bringing new ideas into a practice can be a godsend, but make sure you don’t overwhelm staff (and patients) with willy-nilly changes. Specifically: • Define your overall purpose. • Set specific goals. • Stay the course. • Capitalize on one another’s strengths. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM that’s true. Actually administering the test is simple, but then there’s the part vendors routinely downplay: the increasingly dismal payer reimbursement for in-house lab work. These days, Eckerling regards his lab as more of a patient service than a profit-maker. An impedance cardiography machine has fallen short as well, with much higher usage costs than anticipated. “I’ve got to do 20 a month, and leads are $10 each,” says Eckerling. His hope that the leads would come down in price has not come to fruition (although the vendor did recently conduct some additional training so that the practice could use the test more effectively). Such water-in-the-face realities frustrate a personality like Eckerling’s. So many physicians stay safely within the status quo, good or bad, skeptical eyebrows eschewing change. But Eckerling is always looking for ways to improve his practice — a commendable trait. It’s one that Connie Chatham, who staffs the check-in desk, certainly admires. “He has a good heart, he’s very bright, and he cares about his patients,” she says. Another trait she appreciates in her boss? His sensitivity to his employees’ lives outside of the office. “He’s very family-oriented. I can go to him and say, ‘I have to leave,’ and no matter what, even if he’s the only one there, he’ll say OK.” Who wouldn’t appreciate a boss who truly believes in work-life balance? And who wouldn’t respect a physician who clearly will spend his hard-earned profits for the good of his patients? But … “If everything’s going well, he’s got to change it,” Chatham says. “If he has a slow day, he’s coming up with projects.” MARSHAL YOUR RESOURCES As a veteran medical office worker, Chatham certainly has the skills to be the office manager. But at this stage of her career, she prefers to train someone else to handle these responsibilities — namely, a young, energetic employee named Tiffany Hoyt. Chatham is also a life-long resident of Grass Valley. She knows many of the patients who come to the practice, and she understands the nuances of small-town life. She says that the constant undulations of change within the office, from new technology to modifications in work flow, cause serious unrest among the patients — many of whom are senior citizens — and SEPTEMBER 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 53 http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.