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As a physical therapist, the goal is to see as many patients each day as you possibly can. After all, we got into this field to help people, didn’t we? Seeing more patients means that we’re sending more people out into the world feeling better and living more independently.
Of course, seeing a lot of patients comes at a cost: exhaustion. Burnout is a real issue in the physical therapy industry, with 34% of therapists saying that burnout negatively affects their patient care.
So what can you do to see more patients without overworking yourself?
Read these physical therapy scheduling tips to find out:
1. Ask your patients to arrive early
One late patient can turn your entire day into a hectic mess. If they’re scheduled for a 30-minute appointment at 9 but don’t show up until 9:15, you won’t end up starting your next appointment until 10:15. Of course, your next patient will be sitting and waiting for you, leaving you no time to rest — or even just to collect your thoughts — between appointments. That cycle will continue throughout the day, and you’ll surely be exhausted by the end (better hope the same thing doesn’t happen tomorrow!).
By asking your patients to arrive early, you can at least attempt to short-circuit the cycle of endless rushing around. You can schedule five to 10 minutes in between each session to drink some water and rejuvenate between appointments, helping you to maintain your energy throughout the week.
2. Hire assistants to help you manage your workload
If your clinic doesn’t already have some physical therapy assistants on staff, consider hiring some. And if you do have some PTAs but don’t know how to utilize them, it’s time to get strategic. Our recommendation is to have them perform treatments when your schedule is overloaded. You can perform all evaluations; then they can jump in to treat the patient while you move on to the next eval.
Consider hiring some techs, too, to help prep the office before each session. It’s a good way to free up a few more minutes each hour so you aren’t rushing around so much.
3. Maintain a waitlist for booking last-minute appointments
While you certainly don’t want to overbook your schedule, cancellations can put a damper on your day, especially if they happen last-minute and you don’t have any type of late fee (which we would definitely recommend having). Instead of just waiting for the next patient to show up every time someone cancels, consider maintaining a waitlist. That way, your administrator can call up the people on the waitlist and try to fill the spot.
It won’t free up time in your schedule, but it will help you to avoid losing revenue due to cancellations.
4. Fill out documentation during the meeting
When do you fill out your SOAP forms? After each appointment? At the end of the before you go home? How about during your appointments?
Much of the contents of your SOAP forms can be filled out as you go. For instance, it can be good to take notes on your subjective observations in real time. The same goes for the patient’s objective statements — you can jot those down as you speak with them. You may need to wait until after the appointment to complete your assessment and plan, but you can get a head start by filling some of it out before the patient leaves the room.
5. Use an EMR system to help you stay organized
The right EMR system can help you to streamline several administrative tasks, taking a lot of work off your plate and freeing up time in your schedule. For instance, a good EMR system can help with all of the following tasks:
- Documentation — Autocalculates units by insurance; helps with MIPS reporting.
- Task management — Maintains clinical and clerical work queues to help you keep track of everything going on in your business.
- Physical therapy scheduling — Allows you to keep a patient waitlist and configure appointments based on type.
- Reporting — Generates facility and therapist statistics; provides a big-picture look at your clinic’s productivity and financial performance.
- Billing — Organizes accounts receivable; offers a built-in billing rules engine for simplified coding; automatically processes ERAs and generates claim files.
AgileEMR could be the right EMR system for your clinic
AgileEMR offers all of the features listed in the above section and more. As a system designed specifically for physical therapy clinics, it can help you to manage many of the administrative tasks associated with running a physical therapy clinic. With less time spent on those other tasks, you’ll have more time in your schedule to focus on yourself and your patients.
Contact our team today for more information or to schedule a demo to see how AgileEMR can help your practice.