Physician Scheduler has been providing scheduling solutions to physician practices and healthcare organizations for more than 15 years. When we speak with customers as well as prospective customers one of the more popular topics of discussion is best practices–specifically what can they learn from our experiences. With the introduction of our Blog we hope to provide a forum to share experiences and exchange ideas not only about Physician Scheduler but also about physician and staff scheduling. Our inaugural post lists out our top 10 best practices for achieving and maintaining a high performing schedule. We encourage you to comment on one or more of these practices as it relates to your experience or perhaps one of these practices has inspired you which we hope you share with us. We are grateful for the opportunity to share this platform with you and look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas.
Get agreement to your scheduling rules
This simple idea can be rather challenging for even the smallest groups however it is fundamental to building and maintaining a productive schedule. Achieving this goal doesn’t mean rules will not need to change later on however it is a necessary starting point for generating and benchmarking your schedule.
Centralize your scheduling processes
Often we encounter groups that allow multiple people within the organization to handle different sections of the schedule. This practice can be beneficial but also dangerous if well designed communication and workflow plans are not in place. The more successful groups and departments establish a core scheduling team that has committed to taking a long term approach for creating and managing the schedule. This core team or what we sometimes refer to as Super Users communicate and meet regularly in an effort to benchmark performance, minimize risk early on, and share/implement new ideas. If your scheduling process is fragmented consider identifying the strongest scheduler(s) in an effort to build your core team.
Proactively seek assistance
If you find yourself working on an issue for more than 30 minutes without resolution or progress it is time to contact our Support Department. Too often we speak with customers who tell us they were planning on calling Support but got busy with other things or simply abandon the issue and worked around it. We recommend if you are unable to call Support at the time you are having the issue use or Support Contact Form on our website and describe your issue(s) and a date/time you are available to speak about it. Providing this information up front and a time to speak about it will make maximize your time and perhaps you will have answer before the call. If however you encounter an emergency situation we always recommend you call Support immediately.
Prepare in advance for changes to your scheduling team
Like any company your organization staff will change and if a scheduler change is required we recommend planning for the transition by first notifying us when the change is expected to occur, who the new scheduler will be, and what your plans are for training the new scheduler. Providing this information upfront will allow us to assist with training material, online or onsite new scheduler training, and ensuring the new scheduler is listed in your customer profile to ensure they receive e-mail newsletters, upgrade and event alerts.
Continue to encourage adoption
Application maintenance for any product is essential to ensure the organization continues to receive the highest return on its investment. We encourage customers to monitor their progress in terms of application utilization. If you know your group isn’t using certain parts of Physician Scheduler please let us know and we can assist with building a plan to encourage adoption. Furthermore it is important your group selects an internal champion for driving this adoption typically someone in a leadership position. Higher adoption equals higher return on investment.
Plan for and seek out continuing education
Just like seeing your primary care provider every year is a good health practice so is having an annual schedule audit. Even if you are not having issues these audits provide insight into ideas for making your schedule even better, exploring advanced system functionality, ensuring you are utilizing all available features, and collaborating on a development plan for the upcoming year(s). Taking this proactive step can save your group time and money in the future.
<h3/The art and science of generating your schedule
One of the most popular conversations we have with customers is how to tell which rules should be automated and which should be handled outside of automation. Striking this balance is fundamental to creating and managing an efficient schedule and a critical conversation you should have with one of our Scheduling Consultants. If you have questions about how your schedules rules should operate please contact Support and let them know you would like to discuss this with a Scheduling Consultant.
Consistent Communication
Effective communication is essential yet many customers are still relying upon manual e-mails to communicate scheduling details. If your organization is not utilizing the communication features found in Physician Scheduler now is the time to start. Configuring features like the Physician Portal, E-mail Notification, and Group Distribution provides automated communication of new schedule postings and changes to existing schedules. Contact our Support Department for assistance in having these features configured.
Maintain most recent version
Not having the most recent version can be problematic to your overall use and can be limiting you organization from utilizing the most current features. If you are unsure what version you are on or the most current version available please contact our Support Department. Also be sure your scheduler(s) name and e-mail address is under your organizations profile to ensure they are receiving timely notifications for new releases.
Keep communicating your ideas and keep moving forward
Our 2010 User Conference is being held at the Walt Disney World Boardwalk Resort so we thought it appropriate to include one of Walt Disney’s favorite quotes “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” We feel the same about interacting with our current and prospective customers so we encourage you to keep moving forward with us letting us know your ideas, success stories, and most of all ways we can optimize your experience.
