4 time management tips for physical therapists

In the physical therapy industry, good time management systems are golden. Private practices see many patients every day, and with high patient volume there comes an increase in the need for organizational skills or software. 

Why is time management important for a physical therapist in a private practice?

Time management in a private practice is essential for the success of the practice and for the health of its clients. Physical therapists need enough time in the day to treat all their existing clients and promote the potential for new clients.

It’s important not to overlook the best ways to effectively manage your employees’ time if you’re a practice owner (and your own time if you’re an employee). The reason it’s so crucial is that it can help prevent the dreaded burnout among your team of physical therapists. You may have very qualified therapists working at your practice, but their effectiveness could be wasted without the right management skills and resources. Additionally, you might have a hard time retaining your employees in a field where retention rates are already low. Bad time management is likely to cause your physical therapists to become unhappy at work, which leads to the likelihood of increased turnover. 

4 things physical therapy private practice owners can do to manage time and see more clients

• Calculate how much time you need each week to complete tasks — Time management isn’t possible if you don’t first account for how much time you spend on your tasks. If possible, sit down in a quiet space and take some time to reflect on how time is divided at your practice. Do your physical therapists see an appropriate amount of patients per day? Are they seeing too many in one day? How is your staff dealing with documentation? Is there room for a larger clientele? 

• Determine what your priorities are — Another key way to manage time more effectively in a private practice is to figure out where your priorities lie. What do you hope to gain from better managing your time? What are some of your professional goals? How can you improve upon areas that are lacking, and will doing so improve the overall quality of your practice?

• Delegate tasks to your team — The next tip is to delegate tasks to the people on your team. If you’re someone who likes to manage their work independently, that can be effective in some situations, but it can also increase the load you’re managing. In order to cut down on time spent on tasks that could be quickly completed by other members of your team, you’ll have to be willing to consider sharing the responsibilities. 

• Incorporate an EMR system into your practice — We highly suggest incorporating an advanced EMR system into your private practice if you’re looking for ways to improve your time management. Your physical therapists may be particularly skilled at helping patients improve their physical health, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re skilled at organizational timing. That’s why an EMR system can be an effective approach to ensure that your practice runs smoothly across the board. EMR systems commonly include features that improve scheduling, documentation, reporting, insurance, billing and task handling. They help reduce wasted time at your clinic so you can focus on what matters. You won’t spend any more time trying to look through old filing systems. You won’t lose as much revenue, and you won’t sacrifice customer satisfaction. 

AgileEMR can help you effectively to manage your time at your physical therapy private practice

AgileEMR is a simple health care practice management software solution designed for therapists and created by therapists. We officially launched our software in 2013 to get to the root of the issues that physical therapists and clinicians frequently run into with generic clinical EMR systems: None of them were created with physical therapy in mind. We consulted with physical therapists and physiotherapy clinicians when developing our physical therapy software. This was how we could confidently ensure that our software program meets the demands of this unique health care field. Since launching, AgileEMR has been used in more than 1 million patient cases by all kinds of providers in the outpatient physical therapy and hospital rehabilitation fields. We know that EMR systems are driving the future of outpatient physical therapy. To learn more from us, check out our latest blog post on boosting productivity. To see our physical therapy and rehabilitation partners, click here.

If you’re a physical therapy private practice owner and you’re looking for more information on EMR systems or the features of our EMR program, look no further. We’re confident that our program can meet all your time management needs and can help keep your physical therapy clinic running smoothly. 

Contact our team today for more information or to schedule a demo to see how AgileEMR can help your practice.