While numerous factors impact a medical practice’s ability to provide effective patient care, patient flow is undoubtedly one of the most important.
Patient flow, which is sometimes also called patient throughput, is the process of transitioning patients through a care facility. It involves managing the physical movement of patients and progressing them through the various phases of the care process.
Poor patient flow can cause care providers to fall behind schedule, requiring patients to wait well past their appointment times to be seen. This will create a never-ending cycle in which providers always play catch up.
Optimizing patient flow is a persistent pain point that impacts healthcare businesses of all sizes, from massive multisite hospitals to private practices or small clinics.
The former are often inundated by the sheer volume of patients they receive, while the latter generally need more resources to implement advanced patient flow management protocols.
Virtually anyone in the healthcare space will tell you that patient throughput is a problem that is not going anywhere. Everyone truly wants to know how medical practices can solve this issue.
Patient flow is a complex issue that comprises interconnected processes, such as intake, billing, triaging, scheduling, identity verification, prior authorization, and of course, the direct interaction between the doctor and the patient. Thus, solving the problem will require a multifaceted approach.
This article will first explore the root causes and negative consequences of poor patient flow. We will then provide you with three proven solutions to improve patient flow, allowing you to increase the quality of care you provide, decrease wait times, see more patients, and stabilize cash flow.
What Causes Poor Patient Flow?
Before shifting focus to how medical practices can increase patient flow, it is essential to understand what underlying issues lead to these logistical bottlenecks.
Each clinic, medical practice, or hospital will face a unique set of challenges, any one of which can cause delays in care delivery and negatively impact patient outcomes.
However, a few common themes appear when assessing the problem. While the specific nature of a facility’s challenges may vary in scope and complexity, patient flow issues can almost always be linked to one of four key issues:
Antiquated Processes
Business leaders in all industries, including the rapidly evolving healthcare space, occasionally fall victim to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. This line of thinking leads organizational decision-makers to cling to inefficient processes, technologies, or business practices because they can’t see how these methods hold them back.
However, the modern healthcare industry looks unrecognizable compared to the industry that existed just ten years ago. Outdated check-in, scheduling, and intake processes will inevitably lead to patient throughput issues, friction that diminishes the customer experience, and staff overload.
In light of this, healthcare business leaders should constantly evaluate their processes. Doing so will enable them to identify ways to improve their flow, reduce friction, and enhance overall business efficiency. Conversely, sticking to existing methods can cause providers to fall behind the competition and, more importantly, fail to meet patient needs.
Outdated Technologies
Many healthcare businesses cling to antiquated processes that rely on outdated technologies and software. The combination of inefficient processes and aging technology create a perfect storm for poor patient flow.
Are you wondering whether your technology is outdated? Conduct a brief technology audit by asking yourself these simple questions:
Does my practice use separate platforms for each task (e.g., billing, scheduling)?
Is my software cloud-based?
Does the software developer still provide product support?
Do my various platforms share information and communicate?
Am I still using paper-based record-keeping practices?
It’s best to use cloud-based software that its developers still support. The software solution should be able to integrate and share information with your other applications. Additionally, it should enable you to perform multiple tasks from a single, unified interface.
If your technology does not meet all these criteria, it is time to consider upgrading to something more modern and robust.
Don’t let financial concerns deter you from exploring your options: Thanks to software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription payment models, upgrading your technology stack is probably far more affordable than you would expect.
Staffing Shortages
Staffing shortages are not a new challenge for the healthcare industry. However, current shortages are at historic levels. According to U.S. News and World Report, the nursing shortage is projected to reach 1.1 million by the start of 2023.
Nurses are not the only medical workers who are hard to come by these days; finding support staff, clinicians, doctors, and virtually any other personnel are also getting increasingly difficult.
Smaller medical practices and clinics may find hiring particularly challenging, especially if they cannot compete with the wages offered by larger healthcare companies.
To thrive in this unprecedented environment of severe talent shortages, your healthcare business may have to take an outside-the-box approach to staffing. Nontraditional hiring tactics may help you fill critical vacancies promptly and efficiently.
Improper Allocation of Resources
When medical business leaders are willing to take an objective look at how their organization allocates its resources, they may be shocked by the inefficiencies and waste they find. Improper allocation of resources can contribute to staffing shortages, long wait times, and other obstacles that impact cash flow and hinder patient flow.
Medical businesses interested in improving their resource allocation processes should start by taking stock of how much they spend on each task or set of functions.
For instance, suppose your medical clinic spends $200,000 per year scheduling patients. In this scenario, you could explore alternative scheduling solutions and reduce overhead expenses.
In turn, you could use your savings to invest in patient throughput optimization solutions, such as new technologies, processes, or staff. Strategically outsourcing non–core business processes, such as scheduling, is a great money-saving move that can also help increase flow.
The Negative Consequences of Suboptimal Patient Flow
Suboptimal patient flow has severe consequences for your business and, more importantly, your patients. Some of the most significant adverse effects associated with a poor patient flow include the following:
Reduced Morale
Poor patient flow impacts morale by increasing workplace stress and making doctors feel like they will never get caught up. If your company’s issues are severe, these feelings are warranted; providers will be perpetually behind. Intake personnel, back office staff, billing employees, and support teams will also be behind.
Employees with high morale will provide a better patient experience and be more productive. Conversely, those with low morale are more prone to absenteeism and outright attrition. They may also be less effective, impacting the patient experience and your organization’s profitability.
High Employee Attrition
Many times, conversations about the patient experience center around the impact on those you serve. However, the negative consequences also extend to your care providers and every other member of your organization.
Prolonged periods of increased stress and low morale can drastically decrease overall job satisfaction. Ultimately, this can cause your staff members to seek out greener pastures and leave your organization altogether.
As you are well aware, it is already challenging enough to find and hire talented team members. The issues associated with hiring will be magnified if your attrition rates skyrocket due to poor patient flow.
Negative Patient Outcomes
While analyzing this issue in emergency departments, researchers examined the mismatch between patient demand for services and providers’ ability to deliver care. This mismatch can lead to departmental overcrowding and reduce patient turnover.
Researchers found that these issues hindered an emergency department’s ability to provide urgent or emergency care. Even more concerning, they discovered a strong association between flow-related departmental crowding and an increase in mortality rates.
While your medical business may not provide urgent or emergent care, it is essential to realize that poor patient flow can still negatively impact patient outcomes.
If patients are frequently forced to wait well past their scheduled appointments, they may be hesitant to seek care for seemingly minor issues in the future. This hesitancy could lead to severe medical conditions going undetected.
Burnout
According to the American Medical Association, 62.8% of physicians reported one or more bouts of burnout in 2021. This statistic represents an increase of 24% compared to the previous year.
Burnout is becoming a real challenge in demanding fields like the medical industry. However, physicians are not the only ones who are susceptible. Your employees could experience burnout if they contend with exceptional workplace stresses for extended periods.
Cash Flow Disruptions
Poor patient flow will extend how long it takes to progress patients through the entire care journey. In turn, this can lead to billing delays, which disrupts cash flow and pose a legitimate risk to business continuity.
Cash flow disruptions associated with poor patient throughput compound when you contend with challenges like staffing shortages, high attrition rates, low morale, and excessive absenteeism.
Reputational Damage
Your reputation will eventually suffer if your healthcare business does not address your flow issues.
In a 2020 survey in Software Advice, 90% of respondents said that they evaluated care providers using online reviews. Nearly three-fourths of participants started every search for a care provider by reading online reviews.
These statistics suggest prospective patients will form their initial impression of your practice based on what others say about your business online.
Providing a streamlined scheduling and check-in process to your patients is the first step to protecting your brand’s image. You will develop an exceptional reputation if you follow this up with efficient, frictionless patient flow management. This will strengthen your online presence and help you attract more new patients.
How Medical Practices Can Increase Patient Flow
These are three proven ways that medical practices can increase patient flow:
Investing in Modern Health Information Systems
Health information systems (HISs) are gaining significant traction among medical clinics, private practices, large hospitals, and other facilities. These systems can optimize health information management and streamline patient throughput as well.
During a 2022 meta-analysis of 44 studies, researchers examined the impacts of HISs on patient flow. They found that 75% of the studies demonstrated that HISs had a direct, positive impact on patient flow. Therefore, it is very likely that deploying a health information system will enhance your organization’s ability to bette manage this.
Proactively Identifying and Remedying Patient Flow Bottlenecks
Analyzing business performance by tracking key performance metrics is an excellent method of identifying patient flow bottlenecks. Once you uncover the cause of your issues, you can proactively implement solutions to resolve these hurdles.
For instance, suppose that you analyze the average time before a patient is escorted to a private room after checking in.
If this time appears excessive, you could then begin exploring potential causes: Is the high wait time occurring because intake staff members need to be more efficiently informing back office personnel that a patient has arrived? Or is the bottleneck occurring because of delays on the back end of the care process?
The above example shows how you can begin analyzing interconnected data points to uncover the root cause of your bottlenecks.
Rethinking Resource Allocation Strategies
Do your organization’s physicians or practice managers frequently take on unproductive administrative roles or nonclinical tasks? If so, it is undoubtedly leading to patient flow issues. When practice managers or doctors have to waste time addressing administrative duties, patient throughput is disrupted, wait times increase, and business productivity declines.
Fortunately, you can remedy this pain point by rethinking how you allocate resources. You could consider leveraging full-time remote talent to tackle front-office tasks like:
Patient intake
Scheduling
Patient verification
Prior authorization and billing support
Inbound and outbound call handling
Allocating these important but nonclinical tasks to remote talent will optimize patient flow efficiency. Your providers can use their extra time to increase patient volume, boost your business’s revenue, and increase client satisfaction.
Outsourcing administrative processes to full-time remote staff may even help you bring back inactive patients, acquire new ones, and build your business.
Patient Flow Is a Tough Challenge — but a Solvable One
By proactively addressing your organization’s patient flow challenges, you can increase the quality of care you provide, decrease wait times, see more patients, and stabilize cash flow.
While solving this problem will require a focused, nuanced approach, taking the time to eliminate this business growth barrier will yield significant benefits for your organization and the patients you serve.
