During the month of February I will talk about tips to scheduling your perfect day. This week will include 3 tips which will include:
1. Schedule in 10 min intervals
Using 15 minute increments on the schedule costs the practice approximately seven days of treatment time every year. This means the doctors are working that much harder and not smarter. When you change the practice schedule to 10-minute units you are able to schedule procedures with a higher degree of accuracy. When you utilize 10-minute units of time the practice can schedule a 20-minute procedure with ease. With 15-minute units, the procedure must be scheduled either with not enough time (15 minutes) or too much (30 minutes). Ten-minute units will now offer greater flexibility and result in increased productivity.
2. Reverse engineer it
It doesn’t need to be a calculus equation or statistics but there needs to be a strategic mathematical formula to make certain the practice meets their goals. It is best to schedule an average daily level of production which will be equal to your annual production goal. For example, if you want to produce 1.5 million in 200 days, you need to schedule $7,500 per day. This will include the hygiene schedule and doctor’s schedule. It is not realistic to produce this same number each day. The important fact to look at is your daily practice production average.
Having “Perfect Day” schedules and daily production goals also be valuable in reducing practice stress because it will allow doctor and their team to achieve a consistent day-in day-out workload.
This allows you to take control of your schedule and the schedule will not control you. When setting up your annual schedule template decide how much production you need to stay in the black. Decide what procedure blocks will be added and at what times on the schedule. Many practices make the mistake of scheduling by reactively filling empty time slots.
3. Schedule more difficult procedures and patients earlier in the day
Most people during the day have more energy and as the day progresses they tend to run out of steam. For many people the time after a lunch break seems to create a decrease in energy. Try having longer, more intensive treatment options in the morning. This is the time to fill the schedule with longer procedures and high-production cases.
Check back next week for more tips about how to create your perfect days schedule.
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When you have a strong scheduling system in place you have increased productivity and profitability. When you create a schedule with production as a priority you create harmony, less stress and help the practice meet all the daily goals; production and otherwise.