Seeing the doctor's office as a business operation, and not just as a medical facility

When most people think of a doctor's office, they usually think of medical exams, tests, prescriptions and the like. After all, those are reasons why we go there.

But something more subtle to consider, and probably not immediately on our minds when we go to a doctor's office, is how well that office performs those everyday, common business functions that are common to most all businesses. Things such as:

providing a quality product
serving customers promptly
treating customers with courtesy
responding quickly and well to customer questions/complaints
operating efficiently

to name just a few.

And the importance of these business aspects of running a doclor's office may sometimes be lost sight of when judging the effectiveness of that office.

For example, from the link immediately below:

"Yet, it can be challenging for physicians and healthcare workers to understand the business side of medicine as they obtain a degree in medicine and not business. While it might seem unreal, most medical professionals do not know how to start working after they complete their studies."

"A survey conducted with the final-year medical residents mentioned that only nine percent of the students said they were prepared for the business side of medicine. Around fifty-six percent mentioned that they did not receive any proper instructions about contracts and compensations in professional life throughout their medical studies."

https://businessfinancearticles.org/the-business-side-of-medicine-and-medical#:~:text=components%20of%20the%20business%20side%20of%20medicine%201,your%20practice%205%20improving%20service%20delivery%206%20compensation

And for many doctors, learning how to be a good businessman as well as a good doctor is somethhng they may have had to learn on the job, and maybe their offfce's operation reflects that they have done so successfully, or maybe not.

If they have not, some examples of poor business practices in a medical office:

o your appointment is for 1:00 PM. Finally at 3:00 PM, two hours iater, you get in to see the doctor

o the pre-appointment forms you are given to fill out are poorly-worded and confusing

o the waiting room has a stuffy environment, and the seating is uncomfortable

o you call in to get a renewal for your prescription, but it takes the office staff days to finally call it in to the pharmacy

Things that have nothing to do with the actual practice of medicine, but which are reflections on how that office is being run as a business.

But, again, there are lots of businesses where poor business practices are there, but we become so distracted by the business's product that we don't think immediately of those poor business practices that are going on there.

For example, it might not be immediately apparent that such is the case for, say, a college football team, where we might tend to think of the team's success simply in terms of its quality of play on the field, and its win-loss record.

But the quality of the team's business practices, considering its players as "customers" for example, can have a significant impact on that play and its win-loss record.

Examples of that:

o an important team business practice is planning and implementing a successful team trip to a distant city and stadium to play an opponent. Done well, following a comfortable and efficient plane ride, good meals, etc., the team arrives fresh and mentally ready to play. Done poorly, and the team arrives tired and stressed after airport delays, poor sleeping on an uncomfortable flight with poor food, and inevitably this affects their ability to play their best game that or the next day.

o a dispute between two players winds up in the head coach's office. If the coach can successfully employ the good business practice of resolving differences between employees, then all is well. If not, then the problem continues, probably festers, and possibly affects the play of the team, and hence its win-loss record.

o something as simple as maintaining good locker room conditions, surely a good business practice for an athletic team, makes a difference. What player wants to take a cold shower after a game?

And while we also may not think of it immediately, there are also ways in which the business's customers, and there are different forms of them, may impact, positively, the business's practices.

For example, In the case of the college football team, interestingly, it is often the case that powerful alumni, who have become very successful in business, come to be associated with the head coach, perhaps even suggesting plays for the team to run.

When that happens, the coach may smile patronizingly, knowing that the suggested plays are well-meaning but naive.

But there really is an area where such alumni can make a genuine and meaningful contribution to the team, and it's not through suggesting plays.

Namely, these alumni, while not the football experts they may consider themselves to be, actually do know a good bit about managing large business enterprises, which is how they so successfully have made their money. They also know well how to manage people, and this skill along with talent at running organizations, are things they can indeed pass on to a head coach, for better management of the football team.

And, perhaps even more interestingly, many of us can be in a similar position with respect to our own doctors. They certainly know more about medicine than we do, but it may actually be the case that we, many of us having been successful business managers, perhaps even in a self-employed mode, will be in a position to offer our doctors useful tips on how to improve their office business practices.

So in some cases it is we who might wind up helping them as much as they are helping us, just in a different way.

Of course some doctors may be more willing than others to listen to suggestions from their patients on how to improve their services, and being in an exam room during an appointment may not be the best place to bring up dissatisfaction about an office procedure or such, but a good doctor would have some kind of channel available for expression of such concerns and comments.

Anyway, clearly the primary qualification a doctor needs to have is knowledge and skill as a doctor. But following that, having good business practice in play in his office would also be a significant factor in the desirability of selecting him as one's doctor.