By Rick Lau | I cover entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and operations management.
Owning a clinic is more than a full time job – most clinic owners providing hands on treatments for 30 to 40 hours a week then spending 10 to 20 hours doing management stuff.
Sound familiar?
With so little time, it’s very important to have a solid business plan and be looking at the right metrics so you can make sure your business is moving in the right–or wrong–direction.
Yet, when it comes to metrics, most clinic owners aren’t looking at the right things, that’s if they are even looking at their metrics at all. Where do you fit in this spectrum?
I won’t be surprised if you’re not really following metrics at all. Why?
Well, I’ve got extensive experience in consulting with clinic owners in my Clinic Accelerator Program. I’ve got a thirst to learn marketing techniques and apply them to the treatment rooms, and with operational experience in managing over 200 physiotherapists, massage therapists, and chiropractors over the past 10 years, I am always finding clinic owners ‘guilty’ of not following any metrics. And, I also get countless questions about what type of metrics to follow in a physiotherapy practice.
What I want to share with you today are the key leading metrics you absolutely need to follow to predict the future. How the leading metrics can show you the exact behaviors needed to measure your staff. And, how you can rapidly increase the numbers at your clinic so you can run a highly successful and profitable practice.
Metrics, Metrics, Metrics
When it comes to metrics, most people look at revenue and patients, it seems like the sensible thing to do, right?
While we do need to track them, they aren’t leading metrics. They are lagging metrics – meaning they can’t help you now to predict future outcomes.
If these are the only thing you’re tracking it isn’t a good position to be in because you’ll be stuck churning your wheels and feeling like your business isn’t gaining the growth it deserves.
Instead, when looking at metrics, it’s very important to measure the following:
- Month over month trends (February vs January)
- Year over year trends (January this year vs January last year)
- Measuring daily – If not, at least weekly.
You might be thinking that watching your numbers daily is too much but here’s the thing, if you do watch daily it will take you only months to see changes. If you watch your numbers monthly, it will take you quarters to see changes. And if you don’t watch, well, you will likely see very little change at all.
The more you watch metrics, the faster you will see the numbers change at your clinic.
So let’s look at the 9 metrics that every physiotherapy clinic owner needs to know to run a successful profitable practice – 6 leading metrics and 3 lagging metrics.
Six Leading Metrics
1. ANSWER %
Formula: # of phone calls answered / Total # of phone calls
As a clinic owner your phone is your biggest leading metric.
Did you know most call centers answer 95% of their phone calls? What percentage of your phone calls are being answered?
From my experience running a call center for health clinics, most clinics only answer between 60- 70% of calls. The other 30% of patient calls reach clinic voicemails.
Just 1 missed new patient phone call is worth $500 to your clinic. If you miss 1 new patient phone call every day, over a month that is worth $10,000!
The simple solution is to make sure you answer more phone calls each day and you’re guaranteed to see your revenues go up in the weeks to come.
2. BOOKING %
Formula: # of new patients booked over the phone / Total # of new patient phone calls
Most clinics book less than 60% of potential new patients over the phone – that’s leaving a lot of business on the table, or going directly to your competitors never to be seen again.
Do you know which office administrator is better with new patient bookings over the phone? What about your worst? Do you know how they respond when a patient asks them about price?
You need to know these things because if you start booking more new patient phone calls each day, you will see your revenues go up in the weeks to come.
3. UTILIZATION RATE%
Formula: # appointments booked / Total # appointments on schedule
Is 80% of your booking schedule full? If not, is it a new patient problem or is it a patient engagement problem?
On top of those considerations, you also want to make sure there is enough availability to fit in new patients because nobody wants to wait when they are hurt or in pain. Use the formula number to help you determine whether you need to hire another physiotherapist.
Wanna meet, learn, and network with physiotherapists across the country?
4. GRADUATION %
Formula: # patients graduated from treatment plan / Total # patients seen
One of the top struggles clinicians face with patients is getting them to commit to their care plan and see it through. In fact, only 40% or less of patients graduate from their treatment plans. Ideally you want to be aiming for at least 80% by being your patients most trusted health advisor and aiming to consistently deliver complete care – which promotes greater adherence.
How many of your patients are graduating? Do you even know this number?
5. PATIENT SATISFACTION SCORE
Formula: NPS = (% of Promoters) – (% of Detractors)
Developed by Fred Reichheld, the Net Promoter System (NPS) measures the loyalty that exists between your patients and your clinic.
NPS asks your patients the direct question: How likely is it that you would recommend [your clinic] to a friend, family or colleague? Patients respond to this question on a zero to 10 point rating scale.
The NPS divides your patients into three categories:
- Promoters (score 9 – 10): Loyal enthusiasts who will keep coming to your clinic and refer others.
- Passives (score 7 – 8): Satisfied but not enthusiastic patients who are susceptible to competitive offers. Passives only count towards the total number of respondents and does not directly affect the score.
- Detractors (score 0 – 6): Unhappy patients who can damage your brand through negative word of mouth and bad reviews.
If you find that your overall NPS score is low, then you know you’ve got work to do on your levels of patient satisfaction, which is always going to bring about better outcomes for your clinic.
6. PATIENT HANDOFF %
Formula: # of new patients walked to the front desk / Total # new patients
Always walk your patients to the front desk.
Yes, walk them to the front even if you are super busy.
Small, trivial actions like this go a very long way! Treat your patient like you would treat your grandma if they were to come to your clinic.
This will improve your patient compliance and get them to stick to their treatment plans
Three Lagging Metrics
Lagging metrics are the things most clinic owners tend to track. And while they are still important, they are not necessarily going to help you produce fast results in the future.
7. REVENUE
What you don’t measure you can’t manage. So, knowing your most basic financial numbers or benchmarks is always going to drive a more successful private practice.
Know the difference between an income statement, a balance sheet and shareholder equity, so you can understand your net worth. And always keep your bookwork up to date to make it easier on yourself.
If you’re implementing many of the leading metrics outlined above, you should automatically see your revenue numbers increase. And, your leading metrics will help you make key decisions that drive your business in a positive direction.
8. NEW PATIENTS
Formula: # new patients (nothing complicated here)
There’s no doubt that running a successful practice and treating patients at the same time is a balancing act. But, if you want a successful practice you need to constantly be attracting a steady new stream of patients, too.
If you’re implementing many of the leading metrics outlined above, you should automatically see your new patient numbers increase.
9. PATIENT VISIT AVERAGE
Formula: Total # visits / Total new patients
If your patients like what you offer, had an overall great experience, and they like YOU, they will keep coming back for more.
And, the key to growing any healthcare business is the acquisition of new patients and the retention of established patients. The retention of the established patient is called PVA (patient visit average).
Knowing the patient visit average for all practitioners can help you identify lower performers who may need more coaching and support, which ultimately is going to lead to both better patient satisfaction and retention and increased revenues, too.
