5 SIMPLE TIPS TO MANAGE YOUR MULTI-CENTER CLINICS EFFECTIVELY

A big part of being successful is to stay successful and improve various business metrics. If you manage a string of clinics spread across geographies, the big challenge is how to manage all of them effectively offering a consistent quality of experience and care for your patients. For entrepreneurs losing sleep over tracking multiple centers, the answer can be as simple as effective automation for better control.

Here are 5 simple tips to effectively manage your multi-center clinics:

1. Automate and Put It on the Cloud

Automate all your centers with a single Clinic Management System. It is important that the processes at your different centers’ are able to communicate with each other and therefore you should use one solution to integrate it. Data access is of paramount importance to reach decisions, analyze trends and compare performances. Using a cloud-based server at all your centers will allow you the flexibility to track all your data anywhere, anytime to have better control on the operations.

2. Institute Central Teams

Departments like HR, Accounts, Business Development or Materials form a very small chunk of the entire manpower but are in effect a critical part of the system for the simple fact that they involve money. To manage multiple centers it is better to have a central team of these departments from the head office to manage these functions at different centers. The centers can have a smaller team that will only implement the instructions from the central team. Central hiring or central purchase will help you stay cost effective and offer you better control.

3. Common Reporting Format

For effective management and overview of the performance of various centers, it is important that you receive regular reports from all the centers. Use reporting templates from the software to get all the data you need to measure and do course correction. Or just use a Business Intelligence Solution layer on your existing software to get real time data that indicates center level performance on various metrics – Revenue, expense, inventory or another metric that matters to you.

4. Specialty Exchange Programs

Promote knowledge sharing actively. Some of your centers will have talented people with skills that other centers desperately need. Running a Specialty Exchange Program between centers will allow exchange and enhancement of knowledge. This knowledge exchange will also avoid monotony from setting in and will help build a good work culture, which will go a long way in effective business management.

5. Encourage Interaction on a Common Digital Platform

Employees of all the centers should feel like they are a part of the organization irrespective of their location to promote great work culture. A common digital platform like a module on the clinic management system or an app can be very effective in increasing communication between employees and building a great workplace. The platform can be used as a space to talk about performances of different units, market trends, medical or customer care practices that your chain of clinics can adopt and interaction with the top management.

While there are hundreds of tips to manage your chain of clinics effectively, these 5 are not just effective but simple and long term. It will involve some effort from you but rest assured that it will be worth your time and energy.