So today we're going to talk about the inevitable, the issue of time management as a healthcare provider. We all have notes to finish. We have general to do lists. We have things that we need to get done per day, per week, per month, per quarter, even, and I think a lot of it, the times we're just kind of barely swimming above water.

We're just trying to get everything done and we're actually losing value because there's literally just so many things. So I want to talk about getting down to the nitty gritty of how to improve our time management as a healthcare provider. So the first thing I want to touch on. is going to be the ideal time split of every type of patient visit that you offer.

So this could mean a new patient visit, a follow up visit, an exam. It could mean a specific visit relative to a procedure or service that you're providing. It doesn't really matter, but you should be able to literally splice apart each one and know exactly the division of time per task within that visit that you perform over and over and over again.

For example, if the new patient visit. That's kind of the easiest one to think about.  Somebody who's never been to your office comes in and there's someone you've never seen before. What does that visit look like? In my office, we tend to view things in thirds. So I call this the ideal time split. I like to have all my visits cut up into three chunks for that new patient visit.

That means that First third is going to be all about the main greeting and then medical history of that visit. So I like to start every single visit with something that's personable. Something that kind of connects us even before we dive into some potentially uncomfortable topics. So it could be how they found your office or maybe a mutual friend or family member that is also a patient at your practice.

Something that's going to enhance that patient relationship and trust factor already off the bat. You Then obviously we dive into the meat and potatoes of it all, the medical history, why the patient is there, diving in with some deep questions. That's going to be the big first third of that visit. The second third is examination and diagnosis.

So actually diving in, assessing the patient, figuring out what's going wrong and figuring out what you can help them with. And then that last third is just as important, if not more important than the previous two. It's The plan. What are we going to do with what we found at that visit? And then taking the last bit of that final third to go over what their homework is.

How is the patient going to be involved with their healthcare? And I don't care what anybody says, that can be translated into any specialty across healthcare. Whether you're working in musculoskeletal health,  whether you're working in a med spa, whether you're in the emergency department, whether you are an OPGYN. 

I really, really think you can do that. We should be empowering patients left and right, but we should also be giving them exactly what they need from us. So if you don't already have this laid out, if all of your new patient visits are kind of all over the place you can do really well planned out, I really encourage you to figure out how to systematize things.



So next I want to talk about that new patient visit a little bit more in depth. So in my practice, we try to do as much as we can before the visit. So if you're a new patient in my practice, most of the time you're scheduling online, which I love, patients love it too, but we do so much before the visit as far as communication and prep for that visit.

So our team is already working on your profile, making sure we have everything we need to ensure appropriate billing, appropriate scheduling, and general profile information that we use first. Hit. for statistics in our practice. Our system automatically sends intake forms, so we don't have to worry about it.

That patient is given exactly the correct intake form for whatever visit type they scheduled. Outcome assessments are also sent out and any additional information that we need is automated. On top of that, the insurance information can be automatically uploaded into that intake form, which again leads to minimal admin time for the patient.

for my team. Our billing team automatically checks that information prior to the visit, making sure we know estimated benefits. We are sending estimated benefits to the patient before their visit, which is extreme, obviously, but something that people really appreciate. It helps keep us transparent as well.

One thing One thing we've noticed that patients love about our practice is that there are no surprises, and this has just been a really efficient way for us to do things, and I highly recommend and encourage you guys to do it as well, if possible within your field.  We also have a new patient tracked. We also have a new patient tracker that we use in monday.com so that all of these things can be managed before the visit.

It's almost like a checkbox system with some automations that let us know, okay, has this been done for this patient? Has that been done? And it gives us a really good to-do list day to day to help. Prepare for new patients, because at the end of the day, the new patient experience is so important, especially if you're in private practice.

The reason why all of this setup is so important is because when that new patient arrives for the very first time in your practice, all they have to do is sign a quick, all they have to do is sign a quick informed consent form. And then they immediately get to go on back with the provider for that really important one on one time.

It really helps with, you know, anxiety that some patients may face when coming into your practice or any healthcare practice for that matter. And it really helps make sure that that duration of time that they scheduled is completely focused on them. And that is something that really can't be matched. 

When it comes to actual treatment and dis When it comes to actual treatment and decision making, I think it's really important to streamline some of your processes. So there are many tools in all of our fields, uh, that involve AI and different types of technology that can really help guide you. That when you make X diagnosis, you already know what kind of education and, uh, you already know what kind of education to send out to your patients or maybe what that follow up looks like.

So using a patient portal and sending them education that way or maybe having some kind of automation through your CRM that automatically links a diabetes patient with a monthly newsletter for the next three years or something like that. It's really easy to set these things up. It just takes a little bit of time, but that little bit of an automation can be a game changer for your practice. 

We also really like in that latter third of a new patient visit to focus on setting expectations for the next steps, making sure that patient knows how to set a new goal, what goals we've already hit, what new goals we can set, and just encouraging them at every single visit. I always like to make sure my patients understand the plan.

What do your frequent patient What do your follow up visits look like? When do I want to see you next? What do I want you to have achieved by the next time that I've seen you?

And part of what we do with setting those expectations is making sure they are clear enough and don't actually  Lock us down on a specific timeframe. So for example, if a patient is like, Hey, I really want you to send me this information and you say, yes, I'm happy to do so. I would love to get that to you.

It might just take me a couple of days, but I should have that to you as soon as possible. That's a much better way to say something instead of, yeah, I'll get that to you by Wednesday, because you have no idea what the rest of your shift looks like. And again, you're letting them know that you care, but also making sure that you have some clear boundaries and expectations.

I've seen this really, really make a difference in the world of primary care. Especially if you're seeing someone only once or twice a year, letting them know, Hey, these are some things I would really love to see from you when you come visit me next June.

And then them coming back time and time again saying, Hey, I took your advice. This is what I did with it. It really helps to build that relationship and really shows each patient that you care.   Next I want to talk about the dreaded charting. We already know this is one of the most difficult things as a healthcare provider in today's world.

I think it's really important to set aside charting blocks and this is something that I currently am not doing but something that I used to do and let me tell you, I am missing it. We need to be setting a chart. We need to be setting aside time for this. It could be pre shift, post shift, maybe in the middle of your day.

I used to do mine at the start of my lunchtime and the end of my lunchtime. I would literally take five or ten minutes and I would be able to accomplish so much during that time because it was uninterrupted. We need to stay away from charting at home as much as we can. That really important boundary can really make a difference.

between your balance of work life and home life and just your general quality of life, if you will. Having that distinction between, hey, this is work and this is play, it really goes a long way. One of the things that's been the most helpful for me in the charting world is having a really fast typing speed.

I haven't taken my own in a while, but I'm excited to do so after this episode. Uh, but it's generally around 140 to 180, give or take words per minute, kind of depending on what I'm typing up. Um, I actually used to take typing at a private school like crazy and so all of us developed really great skills.

And little did I know that it would play such a huge role in my life as a healthcare provider. Uh, and I was, I was very curious on kind of like the average words per minute and things like that. And a lot of us are familiar with the hunt and peck typists, AKA people who are kind of using one or two fingers to type.

And Lenovo actually put out a blog post on this saying that that can only generate about 20 to 30 words per minute. And I have seen a lot of healthcare. providers type like that. I can't even imagine getting your charts done at that speed. So if you were one of those people that could really benefit from developing this skill, I say take the time to do so.

There are some really awesome games out there to help you learn. When I was in school, gosh, my private school had us doing this like four hours a day. We were practicing on this skill and it has paid off in dividends. So I looked up some of the best games for this. The most popular one is called 10. Fast Fingers.

It's a free online game that measures your typing speed, um, and also comes in multiple languages and kind of evaluates your progress. But there are some other really cool ones. This one is called Type Racer, which is an automotive racing themed game where you basically get to control a race car with your typing speed.

So it kind of motivates you that way. And the last one is called Keyboard Jump. It's a game from typing. com that helps to improve accuracy over  And every mistyped letter that you make actually loses a life from a specific character. So they've really gamified a lot of this,

and again, in the world of electronical health records, I think it's really imperative that we all do better.

Obviously, delegating tasks and making sure that we're prioritizing well can really pay off too. Making sure your support staff knows clearly what their expectations are and what things are required of them to do versus you. Those expectations can be huge. There's no question of, hey, who's doing this this week?

Who's doing that this week? Making sure that you're outsourcing as many things as you can. billing and other time consuming tasks in healthcare, we just have to do that and focus on the things that we do best as healthcare providers. So if delegation is something that's tougher for you, like it was for me before I opened my own practice, I really encourage you to practice micro delegation first.

Look at your week, look at your day to day, and figure out, okay, what are some things that you hate doing? Start there. If there's something on your list that you just absolutely cannot handle, practice it. Delegate it, hire it out, find a VA, figure out a way, or even automate it. Figure out a way for this to be done so it no longer requires your time.



I also think it's really important to be reasonable about your schedule and picking something that works for you. If you're the kind of person that can do an 8 10 hour shift straight and thrive, wonderful. If you're not, and you have the flexibility, learn that about yourself and make changes accordingly.

I have friends that have scheduled 2 3 hour shifts with patients and then a 1 hour break in between and then they go right back at it and keep alternating. I have some people that love 12 hour shifts and they just go straight through and they love it. thrive, but then they have one or two days off per week.

But it's important to know who you are and which one is going to be best for you in that way. Personally, my sweet spot is four to six hours straight with patients.  It's also important to take breaks. This helps prevent burnout and gives you a better sense of clarity and also makes you more efficient as a healthcare provider. 

And lastly, we need to avoid common time traps. The most common ones that I see with healthcare providers is number one, over education. There's just simply a lot of things that we would love patients to know that they just don't care about. We spend so much time doing it and we tend to focus too much on quantity and not as much on quality.

Understanding how to use time management, especially in the moment, knowing what time you have per visit to do some of these things. We're just not, it's just not adding up. Another time trap is going to be absolute perfectionism, whether that's documentation or only saying things that you feel completely perfect about saying, we have to kind of let that go.

I think this really happy medium between professionalism, friendliness, and just normal social skills in the healthcare setting, I think that's really the magical recipe for having a very successful patient encounter and I think it automatically helps you achieve better patient results as well. 

At the end of the day, regardless of what insurance tells us, regardless of what reimbursement looks like, or what our administration is telling us, we need to focus on value instead of volume. Obviously, we want to be busy. Obviously, we want to be successful. But I promise you, if we are focusing on value and patient equity, outcomes.

The rest will follow. I hope these tips inspire you to kind of look at your day to day and I guarantee you that implementing some of these things and changing some of your systems and practice will help you be an even better provider than you are today.