Sherry Krueger

Healthcare organizations are not exempt from the financial problems and woes facing other corporations today; they too must "adapt or die". Whether large or small, healthcare organizations must constantly seek and implement business and marketing strategies to retain customers (patients) and to attract new ones.

As you look for additional areas to increase the revenue for your practice, look to include retail sales of nutritional supplements to your existing patients. When you prescribe (recommend) nutritional support to your patients, you can make it convenient for your patients by stocking vitamins and other dietary supplements right in your office.

By its very nature, medical practice work can be frenzied, stressful, and overwhelming. You and your staff are likely under constant interruption, making it impossible to give each task the attention it deserves, and simply completing the huge number of necessary tasks each day can be a struggle. Effective time management is essential to the smooth operation of a medical practice. These practices can help you reduce your stress, improve your productivity, and reclaim your personal life.

As the healthcare climate in America continues to change, it becomes more important for the private practitioner to increase revenue streams for their office or clinic. One very important revenue stream that every practitioner can incorporate into their practice is dietary consulting and providing nutritional products for their patients.

With the rise of managed care, doctors are required to see more patients in a day than they did a generation ago. This can lead to long wait times, rushed visits, and overall less satisfied patients – not to mention doctors who feel like they're working on an assembly line. Here are several ways to make your schedule run more smoothly.

As the obesity problem in America grows, an alarmingly significant increase in childhood obesity has become a large part of the problem. According to recently released figures from the Center for Disease Control (CDC): Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20% in 2008.

Healthcare organizations around the world are faced with the challenges of containing rising healthcare costs, improving access to care, and providing quality care to patients with very complex diseases and longer life spans (due to vast improvements in medical research and technology).

There is a prevailing viewpoint in the medical field, and society in general, that obesity is a problem that is beyond our control. Everywhere you turn there is a new study that blames America's obesity problem on some external factor. Former FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler argues that modern food is addictive. Recently, in the Journal of Health Economics, University of Illinois researchers join a long list of analysts who blame urban sprawl for obesity.

As a physician, becoming part of a physician referral network is one of the best things you can do for your medical practice. You'll build relationships that will help ensure the success of your practice even as other sources of revenue evaporate due to changes in the economy and health care system. You can either join an existing referral network or, if you prefer, create one of your own by seeking out and cultivating relationships with other physicians.

Communication is an important part of keeping a medical practice running smoothly, and staff meetings are a great way to keep those lines of communication going, whether you hold them daily, weekly, or monthly. Make sure the conversation is two-way. Employees want to know what's going on with the practice, and they also want their voice to be heard. The goal is to work together to build your practice.