Boosting Practice Growth, Patient Rapport

Article

Adding advanced practitioners to your practice can grow your patient base and still allow for good patient relationships.

Dawn Morton-Rias, president and CEO of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, emphasizes, "Patients have choices; they return to a practice because of relationships. Patients demand not just well-trained professionals, but people they can relate to. That's not to say office staff aren't personable, but patients can Google providers in 10 seconds, and they expect a different level of interaction."

She describes a practice in Maine that expanded from two physicians to eight practitioners, allowing them to remain open seven days a week. "In that practice, the PAs maintain their own panel; they are the patients' provider of choice."

Pushback from other staff is expected, she says, so she recommends the "try before you buy" scenario to bring advanced practitioners on board:

• Bring a student in for a four-week rotation. They'll benefit, too, from close supervision while testing out their skills.

• Offer licensed advanced practitioners small part-time positions, for a few hours a week. This can include double-booking on those days so productivity remains high. Keep an eye out for positive results.

Newsletter

Optimize your practice with the Physicians Practice newsletter, offering management pearls, leadership tips, and business strategies tailored for practice administrators and physicians of any specialty.

Recent Videos
P2 Management Minute: Keeping practice staff happy
P2 Management Minute: Improving patient satisfaction
P2 Management Minute: Reducing malpractice risk
P2 Management Minute: Summer staffing shortages
P2 Management Minute: Boosting practice staff morale
Practice lessons from the works of Mark Twain
Using AI agents
Stephen A. Dickens, JD, MAEd, FACMPE, on strategic planning in times of uncertainty.
Stephen A. Dickens, JD, MAEd, FACMPE, VP of medical practice services at SVMIC, shares a success story of strategic planning in action.
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.