Where Efficiency Breaks Down in Dermatology and Medical Aesthetic Practices
Apr 01, 2024
An inefficient day rarely looks like one major failure.
Patients wait while staff search for an answer. A clinician is interrupted with a question someone else should be able to resolve. An important follow up is missed because everyone thought someone else was handling it. The schedule is full, but treatment rooms and staff time are not being used well.
By the end of the day, the work was completed, but it required more time, attention and intervention from the physician owner than it should have.
Here are five places I look when a dermatology or medical aesthetic practice feels busier than it should.
The Schedule No Longer Reflects the Visit
Appointment templates often remain unchanged while the practice adds services, clinicians and new steps to the patient experience.
The time assigned to a visit may no longer reflect what happens before, during and after the appointment. Photography, consent, numbing, room preparation, patient questions, documentation and checkout all affect the schedule.
Review each visit type from arrival through departure. Look at the time required, which staff members are involved and where patients or clinicians regularly wait.
A schedule can appear full and productive while creating delays throughout the day. Changing appointment lengths alone may not solve the problem. The entire visit needs to be considered.
Staff Responsibilities Overlap or Fall Through
Many practices have job descriptions, but those documents do not always reflect how work is actually handled.
Two staff members may believe the other person is responsible for a task. Another responsibility may have been added informally and never assigned. Some work continues to return to the physician owner because staff do not know who has the authority to make the decision.
Shared work still needs clear accountability. Staff should know who is responsible, when another person becomes involved and what confirms that the work is complete.
This becomes especially important as the practice grows. Adding staff without clarifying responsibilities can create more questions, duplicated work and missed follow through.
Handoffs Depend on Memory
Patients move through several people during one visit. Information may pass from the clinician to a medical assistant, from the medical assistant to the front desk and from the front desk to whoever is responsible for the next step.
A verbal instruction given in the hallway is easy to miss. A note placed in the wrong part of the system may not be seen. A patient can leave without understanding what happens next because each person assumed someone else had explained it.
Review the points where responsibility moves from one person to another. The handoff should identify what needs to happen, who is responsible and how completion will be recorded.
Recurring Work Has No Clear Place
Inventory review, staff training, unresolved patient concerns, schedule adjustments and operational follow up often compete with the immediate demands of the day.
When recurring work does not have a designated time and responsible person, it is usually handled after it becomes urgent.
These responsibilities need a clear place in the practice calendar. The physician owner should also know how completion will be reviewed without having to personally chase every task.
Changes Are Announced but Never Fully Implemented
A new policy is discussed at a staff meeting. A workflow is sent by email. A system is purchased and everyone is expected to begin using it.
Weeks later, staff have returned to the previous process or created several different versions of the new one.
Implementation requires more than an announcement. Someone must answer questions, observe how the change works during the day, correct inconsistencies and confirm that the new process has become part of normal operations.
Without that follow through, the practice continues to carry the cost of the original problem along with the disruption caused by an unfinished solution.
Fix the Work in the Right Order
Trying to correct several operational problems at once can create additional work and make it difficult to see what is improving.
Start with the breakdown that affects the most people, delays the most work or repeatedly requires the physician owner to step in. Clarify what should happen, assign responsibility and observe whether the change works in the practice.
Then move to the next priority.
A more efficient dermatology or medical aesthetic practice gives staff clearer responsibilities, supports clinicians throughout the day and creates a more consistent patient experience. It also reduces the number of routine decisions that continue to return to the physician owner.
Ready to Strengthen Your Practice?
If inefficiency is showing up in several parts of your practice, I can help you identify where the work is breaking down, decide what needs attention first and make sure the changes are carried through.
Connie Kurczewski is the founder of Elevated Practice Consulting and Strategic Advisor to Dermatologists and Aesthetic Physicians. She advises physician owners on staffing, leadership, operations, marketing, sales and patient experience.
