A couple of years ago, CEO Daniel Murrey, MD, and his staff at OrthoCarolina were experiencing a high level of leakage to other sites for ancillary services. After a few years of concerted effort to improve ancillary services and work around customers' schedules, his practice has seen a large decrease on leakages for physical therapy, MRI and DME. Here, he shares three tips on controlling leakage for ancillary services.
1. Invest in quality equipment. According to Dr. Murrey, it is essential that your physicians are confident in the quality of the products you provide. "Even though the physicians own MRI scanners, they won't send patients there unless they know the scan is as good or better than one you can get anywhere else and that the people who read the scans can give great reads," he says. Investing in quality equipment might strain your practice financially in the short-term, but you will benefit long-term because state-of-the-art products will attract more customers, and your physicians will feel comfortable recommending your ancillary services to their patients.
2. Keep scans within the practice. Because patients often travel to seek orthopedic treatment, a practice can control ancillary service leakage by ensuring that traveling patients can get MRI scans done while they're in town. "Sometimes it's just a matter of another relationship the patient may have, where they're contracted to be scanned elsewhere through worker's comp," says Dr. Murrey. "But with the things we can control, we try to make it easier for patients to be scheduled with us." This might mean keeping your practice open seven days a week like OrthoCarolina. Dr. Murrey says that his practice provides scans from 7 AM to 7 PM every day of the week to ensure that patients do not have to seek ancillary services elsewhere.
3. Be flexible and creative. It helps to go the extra mile to help your patients out. According to Dr. Murrey, OrthoCarolina offers two mobile MRIs so that they can offer scans in remote communities to patients who may not be able to travel. "It helps with geographic concerns and scheduling concerns," Dr. Murrey says.
Read more about OrthoCarolina:
-OrthoCarolina Adds Urgent Care Services to Facility
-9 Keys to OrthoCarolina's Success
Read more coverage on Dr. Daniel Murrey:
-Orthopedic and Spine Industry Leader to Know: Dr. Dan Murrey of OrthoCarolina
1. Invest in quality equipment. According to Dr. Murrey, it is essential that your physicians are confident in the quality of the products you provide. "Even though the physicians own MRI scanners, they won't send patients there unless they know the scan is as good or better than one you can get anywhere else and that the people who read the scans can give great reads," he says. Investing in quality equipment might strain your practice financially in the short-term, but you will benefit long-term because state-of-the-art products will attract more customers, and your physicians will feel comfortable recommending your ancillary services to their patients.
2. Keep scans within the practice. Because patients often travel to seek orthopedic treatment, a practice can control ancillary service leakage by ensuring that traveling patients can get MRI scans done while they're in town. "Sometimes it's just a matter of another relationship the patient may have, where they're contracted to be scanned elsewhere through worker's comp," says Dr. Murrey. "But with the things we can control, we try to make it easier for patients to be scheduled with us." This might mean keeping your practice open seven days a week like OrthoCarolina. Dr. Murrey says that his practice provides scans from 7 AM to 7 PM every day of the week to ensure that patients do not have to seek ancillary services elsewhere.
3. Be flexible and creative. It helps to go the extra mile to help your patients out. According to Dr. Murrey, OrthoCarolina offers two mobile MRIs so that they can offer scans in remote communities to patients who may not be able to travel. "It helps with geographic concerns and scheduling concerns," Dr. Murrey says.
Read more about OrthoCarolina:
-OrthoCarolina Adds Urgent Care Services to Facility
-9 Keys to OrthoCarolina's Success
Read more coverage on Dr. Daniel Murrey:
-Orthopedic and Spine Industry Leader to Know: Dr. Dan Murrey of OrthoCarolina