One major challenge facing all physician practices is patient scheduling. Regardless of the skill level, state-of-the-art equipment, and treatments available at the physician practice, patients cannot be adequately cared for without first gaining access to the care they need.  Patient scheduling may seem easy enough on the surface; however, many physician practices, therapists, and other healthcare organizations miss opportunities to provide care to their patients simply because patients are not offered appointment slots that meet the patient’s needs. It’s not unusual for some patients to ..read more

Endeavor for Excellence: Step 4 – Establish Performance Baselines If you have been following along for the redeployment of MedicalGPS’ service improvement program, this week we move into Step #4 — establishing baseline performance measures.   If you have not been following along but have been looking for a proven, field-tested service improvement process to enhance customer service levels at your practice, feel free to click the links below to get started.    If you have already reviewed E4E steps #1, #2, and #3, skip over the 10-steps listed below and pick up with step #4 ..read more

Last week we kicked-off MedicalGPS’ service improvement program, Endeavor for Excellence: Start Where the Patient Starts (E4E).  If you missed last week’s announcement, which included steps #1 and #2 to get started, click here to get the ball rolling. Starting with this online-guided redeployment, MedicalGPS is offering the E4E content to you, free of charge, through a series of YouTube videos complemented by MedicalGPS’ blog posts.   Feel free to use some or all of MedicalGPS’ E4E content to aid you and your team as you endeavor to reach new levels of service excellence for you ..read more

Welcome If you are a regular reader of MedicalGPS’ blog, Thinking Thursdays TIPs, we likely already know each other- it’s a pleasure to be with you again.  If we do not currently know each other, my name is Jerry Stone, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer with MedicalGPS.  To all, I’d like to say, “Welcome”, as you explore this written version of MedicalGPS’ service improvement program, Endeavor for Excellence: Start Where the Patient Starts. MedicalGPS has been deploying Endeavor for Excellence, or E4E, dating back to 1995.  Over the last two-plus decades MedicalGPS has cont ..read more

A recent shift to a population care model in the last several years has compounded one of the greatest strategic challenges that healthcare information technology leaders constantly face.(1) Care coordination is not a new problem, but evolving healthcare technology, telehealth, and value-based care have all placed a greater sense of urgency on solving the coordinated care dilemma. As the healthcare industry focuses on improving the patient experience, successfully coordinating the patient’s journey through every point-of-care, has become an even larger piece of the puzzle. The good news i ..read more

The US Department of Labor reported that by 2024, translation and interpretation will grow by 29%. The post-pandemic situation has also intensified the demand for medical interpretation. What makes it different from other forms of interpretation? To practice medical interpretation, interpreters must comply with HIPAA requirements and are knowledgeable of medical terminologies besides being fluent in different languages.   The two main types of medical interpreting we will discuss are simultaneous and consecutive interpretations. Simultaneous interpretation is when the interpreter del ..read more

When your primary goal is to improve and better market your practice, most experts place substantial value on commanding your online patient review scores. Public star ratings and reviews are certainly important for attracting patients, but too many practices have started to rely on them as the primary vehicle for patient feedback. This direction may promise a quick bump in business, yet is fraught with long-term consequences for both your practice and your patients. A Wonderful Magical Solution? Gaining positive online reviews seems like a wonderful magical solution to improve any practice. I ..read more

Creating an environment that encourages patients to take an active role in their ongoing care separates the ordinary healthcare organization from the extraordinary healthcare organization.   A great healthcare organization demonstrates great patient engagement. In 1995 I had the opportunity to “transition” from the airline business into healthcare.  While the two industries have many differences, they also have many similarities.  One similarity is the word “passenger” and the word “patient”.  Both words of course refer to the consumer.   Both words can also have a neg ..read more

One major challenge facing all physician practices is patient scheduling. Regardless of the skill level, state-of-the-art equipment, and treatments available at the physician practice, patients cannot be adequately cared for without first gaining access to the care they need.  Patient scheduling may seem easy enough on the surface; however, many physician practices, therapists, and other healthcare organizations miss opportunities to provide care to their patients simply because patients are not offered appointment slots that meet the patient’s needs. It’s not unusual for some patients to ..read more

The US Department of Labor reported that by 2024, translation and interpretation will grow by 29%. The post-pandemic situation has also intensified the demand for medical interpretation. What makes it different from other forms of interpretation? To practice medical interpretation, interpreters must comply with HIPAA requirements and are knowledgeable of medical terminologies besides being fluent in different languages.   The two main types of medical interpreting we will discuss are simultaneous and consecutive interpretations. Simultaneous interpretation is when the interpreter del ..read more