Re:Reducing Staff Needs and Websites Like Medfusion

[Guest guest]

A lot of being an IMP involves balancing supply and demand so that

you maintain good patient access. How many patients will follow you

to your IMP? I have a no-staff IMP (down from 1/2 staff 4 months ago)

and have 900 active patients. That's probably too many, more in terms

of paperwork than actual visits. I do have same day visits available,

though rarely I stay a little late to fit another patient in. And I

didn't start with that many patients - it's too hard to see 10-12 on

your first day in a new office, so start slow and build the practice.

In terms of cutting back on telephone demand:

I had someone who answered phones for me fulltime (expenses were

shared with two therapists in my building) for years and transitioned

rapidly into no phone coverage. I would say my phone volume has

dropped by at least 80%. I use telephone voicemail and a website

which has a link to either email directly to me or make an online

appointment on Appointment Quest. My phone message makes it clear how

to access the website and make an appointment. I use regular email

(comcast) not one of the other types of message centers, as patients

seem to prefer that. I pay about twenty dollars a year for Website

Hosting and about $18. a month for AppointmentQuest. I also pay about

$20.00 for onebox phone/fax service.

There are many others on this listserve that use some combination of

these services and I believe several Relayhealth users - Tim? maybe

? Perhaps they can comment on using those services.

Guinn

Albuquerque