Private practice is more challenging than ever before. Taking care of patients places very significant demands on us, not only physically but emotionally. There are really important steps you can take to become more productive, happier and healthier! And that is to ultimately become a really successful implementer.

There’s a really important book on the shelf in my home. This book is called The Ultimate Success Secret. Dan Kennedy published it in 1999. It’s been republished many times. You should pick up this book. It’s only about 100 pages.
It’s a great story based on Dan’s then 20 years of experience in dealing with many successful businesses. This included a significant number of chiropractic physicians. My read is that Dan came to the conclusion that the ultimate success secret is that those who become very successful in life are really successful implementers.

Those who are very unsuccessful at implementation fail to get things done, and really live up to their potential. In fact it’s been said many times that the hallmark of any successful executive is the ability to get things done.

There are some things you can do to help become a better implementer. The first thing is each morning to review your production goals for the day. The second thing is to almost simultaneously get yourself focused for the day.
It’s still a good reminder for me when I see patients in my office. I’ve also found through the years as I’ve trained associate doctors that this is a very pertinent reminder for them as new doctors.

If you have patients coming in for report of findings or case presentation visits, it’s very important that you’ve done the preparation before they get to the office.

I’ve written about this previously in many other contexts. It’s very important that you as the owner-doctor and CEO have made sure that the diagnosis is done, the examination is either fully transcribed or in transcription, treatment plans have been written, and the diagnosis has been forwarded to the business office.

Those of you who have been around Perfect Practice for a while know that this is not an activity we recommend you abdicate to a staff person. We are big believers and practitioners of making sure that the doctor confronts the patient with any financial issues headfirst on the patient’s second visit.

Simply by operating off a written checklist that contains these daily tasks, you’ll find yourself becoming much more effective.
Not only does the staff need very explicit instructions, but often we need very explicit instructions too.

Days in practice have a way of getting away from us. It’s very important to understand that an enormous portion of implementation is making sure that you have accountability along with staff.

Also, are you are looking for and pointing out to the staff every day where the new patient openings are?

Doctors, if you don’t do this, you will not be seeing nearly as many new patients as you can. You must communicate this to your staff, especially if they’re new.

If you don’t tell your team precisely where they can put a new patient as the schedule gets filled, you will never have the practice of your dreams.

This is part of your in-office capacity expansion.

It’s so important to make it clear to the staff, regardless of how busy you are, that part of your practice philosophy is to get patients seen when they need to be seen.

If you’re not continually pointing this out to your staff, you’ll find yourself disappointed, and not nearly as effective executive doctor as you could be.

The last point in this context is that in addition to leaving your office neat, organized and prepared for the following business day, you also need to make sure that on your way home from the office, you have left the office in the office.
This is critical.

When it’s time to check out, it’s time to check out. On the way home, get yourself ready to be with your family, pets, and hobbies or extracurricular activities. This is so important.

As you grow and mature in practice, it’s very important to make sure that you are starting to offload some of these daily duties, but never abdicate some of the most essential functions. This includes making sure the money is accounted for and all of the necessary patient care duties are executed.

You want to always be sure that your office continues to run in a fully compliant manner.
And make sure that you are improving your organizational and management skills on a daily basis!

To really learn these skills, consider joining our 21 week effective executive training program. It’s just $1.56/day…