More literal delegation is another option. Ask your staff to do more. “I don’t think we use our nursing staff to the max. And busy as they are, I think nurses tend to be more efficient if they are busier,” Capko offers.

It may also be that you need more help. Many practices are proud of how they get by with fewer-than-average employees, figuring that this is a sign of cost-effectiveness, but often the reverse is true: Understaffed practices tend to be less efficient, especially when physicians are spending their valuable time on tasks that could be performed by lower-paid staff, if only there were enough staff to do the job. “If by adding staff, it frees up the physician’s time to see X number of additional patients a day, it’s not an expense — it’s an investment,” Wetmore says.

Of course your office has patients in it, as well as staff. Smart practices set high expectations for patient involvement. You might have patients make their own appointments online, type their own medical histories into software that interacts with your EMR, or keep a personal health record.

We’ve even heard stories from practices that encourage patients to pay their portion of the bill once they get an EOB from their payer. They know what they owe; why wait for a bill from the doctor?

Educating patients about how to best handle refill requests is another way you can push work onto patients. In group visits, patients can educate one another about their common disease. Some practices are even using electronic kiosks at check-in. Similar to check-in machines at hotels and airports, the machines recognize patients, check their insurance, and even process copays. It may sound impersonal, but, in fact, it’s possible to improve patient satisfaction with the digital interfaces. They reduce lines, can offer information in multiple languages, and patients can easily see their own demographic data, enabling billing to work easily for you and them. And consumers have gotten quite used to self-service technology: It’s how they do most of their banking, buy gasoline, and even purchase groceries.

Simply asking patients to write down their main concerns and prescription needs before they enter the exam room can be a big time saver, too. “Let’s face it, you only have 10 minutes,” Capko points out. “How do you make that time the best it can be?”

3. Get focused