Do You Know the Most Common Trait of Profitable Bariatric Practices?
The other day, I was talking with a Private Bariatric Practice Owner who was telling me how things were going in her practice.
And I listened to about 5 minutes of this before I finally said, “So where are you at? What are your numbers?”
(Quick clarification: ”numbers”, “statistics”, “metrics” all the same language and meaning to me.)
Her answer was, ”Well I don’t know.”
So I followed up with, “OK, how many visits and New Patients did you see this month?” “Out of those new patients, how many of them converted to surgery?”
“I don’t know”“OK, how about this week?”
“Well, give me a second and I’ll have my practice administrator pull up our spreadsheet to take a look.”
If there’s a tough-to-face mistake most Private Bariatric Practice Owners run into, it’s this one…
Admitting when they don’t know their numbers. I mean really know their numbers.Here’s What Separates The Winners from The Losers…
In this healthcare landscape, the winners know their numbers inside and out.When it Comes to Grading Bariatric Practices, There are 4 Categories They Fall Into:
From the experience of talking with hundreds of bariatric practice administrators and owners, they’ll typically fall into one of these 4 categories:
- The first stage is AMATEUR. This owner will not look at their numbers, ever. When effort is made, it’s a guess or they will offer a range. ”We get about 30-43 New Patients each month”. This owner is usually very emotional and operates on feel. They’re ignoring where they’re at and their own responsibility.Quick note: At the least, you may want to consider tracking all New Patients, Patient Revenue and pipeline on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis.
- A step up from AMATEUR is Minor League. This is where the owner that looks at their numbers. However, they’re unsure as to how they can control their numbers. Often I see the “Looking at Too Many Numbers” syndrome. This is when you have so many reports and data that you think are important…except you’re swimming in a sea of data. There’s truth to “analysis can lead to paralysis”. Perhaps more fitting is “100% metric analysis; 0% action”.
- The next stage is Major League. This owner puts effort into it. Usually at this stage another staff member assembles their stats. Maybe on a transparent, easy to read dashboard like, PatientFlow. The owner’s energy and time is reserved for analyzing the metrics and creating plans of action that can be executed, resulting in improving numbers.
- The next stage is ALL STAR. The owner & partners are focused on steady, stable, reliable, consistent growth. The owner and his or her staff, correct problems quickly, keep the entire practice moving towards and achieving its goals. They know what to do automatically and execute with their team.
POP Quiz: Do You Know Your Numbers? (These answers are for YOU only. No need to share unless you feel the need to)
How many New Patients did you see last month? ____________What % of those new patients converted to surgeries?____________Last year, what percentage of your new patients were referred by physicians? ___________What marketing channel worked best for surgery conversions?_____________OK, that’s it. Fairly painless, right?So, do you know your numbers?
If you’re looking for more resources, I have two recommendations for you:Read “Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits” by Greg Crabtree. I’m not an accounting guru, however, this guy knows his stuff. Very easy read for a topic that’s tough for most of us in the trenches. You can pick it up on Amazon.
If you want to use the same dashboard & command center many Major League & All Star Practices are using across the country, go to: https://www.pronexinc.com/contact