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Top 6 Operational Challenges That Can Stop Your Clinic From Achieving Success

You strive to offer the best hearing care with exceptional customer service, but certain operational challenges can prevent your hearing clinic from achieving (or maximizing) success. If you’re using inefficient scheduling systems, improper workflows, or outdated equipment, your business – and your customers – will be negatively impacted.

Is your business experiencing any of these common operational challenges? 

1️⃣ Inefficient scheduling: Do you have long wait times for your clinics, overloaded staff, or open times in your calendar?

2️⃣ Improper, non-integrated systems: Are your systems connected, streamlined, and easy to access from anywhere? No? 

3️⃣ Inefficient workflows: Do you know what happens when customers have appointments with your staff?

4️⃣ Not generating leads effectively: How many of the leads bookings had a hearing loss? 

5️⃣ Not having effective portable solutions: Do you hesitate to provide remote care? 

6️⃣ Experiencing unnecessary equipment downtime: When was your equipment last calibrated? And how much downtime did that create? 

1. Inefficient Scheduling

Then you might want to take a closer look at your schedule. Schedule optimization is critical to your organization’s success, whether you have one small clinic or a large network with many locations. The first step is to use a centralized, user-friendly scheduling tool that will allow front office staff to see the availability of all audiologists across the enterprise. Auditdata Manage offers a next-gen scheduler that will optimize the way you utilize your employees, facilities, and equipment. The scheduling tool allows bookers to block appointments in 15-minute intervals, knowing that some appointments (e.g., wax removal) will be shorter than others (e.g., a first appointment). It is recommended to book the longer appointments first, and then schedule shorter appointments and administration time in such a way to reduce any “gaps” or downtime in the day. Housing your scheduler in the cloud is a smart way to provide central access, especially if you have multiple clinics or audiologists. Additionally, if you have limited resources – such as a sound booth or frequently used equipment – a scheduling tool allows your staff to reserve these resources for specific appointments. 

Start Optimizing Your Scheduler Today!

Did you know that optimizing your schedules can be one of the most efficient ways to maximize your revenue? We have designed this guide to assist audiology clinics in optimizing their schedules for success. 

Resource Optimization Guide

2. Improper, Non-Integrated Systems

Just as you wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint, you can’t build a business without proper plans, systematized data, and structure. It’s a mistake to rely on “gut feelings” when running your business and making strategic decisions. And it’s inefficient to use manual systems, such as segmenting a huge database for a marketing initiative by hand. Moreover, many hearing clinics use systems that are outdated or not interconnected, meaning that data points need to be inserted multiple times, which is time-consuming and prone to error, leading to poor data quality. It’s far more efficient and effective to use an integrated practice management software to improve transparency of data across your clinics, enabling you to see the full picture of your hearing care business. With Auditdata Manage, you get a data-driven, cloud-based solution for hearing care professionals. This solution provides the best possible platform to manage your business operations, marketing and clinical tasks while offering complete visibility of the data you need to make strategic decisions. For example, Auditdata offers role-based access to professionally branded reports, allowing you to measure HCPs and locations against KPIs as well as sales performance against budgets. This gives you transparency to identify what’s working well, and areas that may need improvement. Auditdata’s clients find it extremely helpful to view patient inquiry reports, product sales reports, aged A/R reports, warranty expiration reports, appointment booking reports, and more, using this solution. 

3. Inefficient Workflows

Are your staff members consistently performing the protocols they ought to? Are they collecting the right client information and asking good questions during every appointment? This can be very difficult to know. However, if you implement best practices and standard commercial or clinical workflows, you can optimize performance and quality outcomes. To be certain that all staff members follow your recommended best practices, automate the clinical workflows. This helps ensure that the processes are consistently followed, elevating patient care. Using a standardized workflow helps audiologists be clear about what they need to do, and when they need to do it. This practice also helps onboard new staff to your clinics. With a simple system supporting and guiding them through each step in the process, this is an assurance that all standards are followed. Also, standardized workflows allow audiologists to focus fully on patient interactions and not get preoccupied by what needs to happen next. Additionally, it helps ensure that important steps aren’t missed or forgotten, especially when customers have many questions that may take discussions off-track. Lastly, a standard workflow helps heads of audiology/clinic owners monitor and benchmark staff performance and can support an auditing situation immensely. Our Measure software give access to performance reports that provide transparency by clinic, by audiologist, or across the business. Additionally, it allows clinic owners to objectively see where improvements are needed. 

4. Not Generating Leads Effectively

What is the cost and effort of getting these leads? Hearing care providers work hard to attract people to visit their clinics to screen them for hearing loss, then provide customized hearing solutions. But, often, people experiencing hearing issues don’t – or can’t – visit hearing clinics, because of mobility issues, lack of transportation, busy schedules, etc. If these potential clients are unable to visit the hearing care clinics in person, audiologists need to be mobile enough to come to them, using tablet-based hearing screeners, or expanding their opening hours to provide more flexibility for the people who work standard business hours. 

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Many audiology practices are successfully using portable self-screening solutions that help service providers engage with potential customers and generate valuable leads with less staff effort and cost. A tablet screener extends your clinic’s reach with visits to customers’ homes, nursing facilities, retirement homes, in community centers, pharmacies, and other locations. With an initial touchpoint in the community, you can meet potential customers, provide them with a convenient hearing screening, and encourage them to visit your clinics for a more complete screening and discussion of their options. This will also help you connect with the younger demographic and provide them with objective information about their hearing loss to inspire them to act, as needed.  

Use Auditdata’s software to track and follow each lead, with regular communications to convince them to visit your clinics and buy your products. Auditdata provides marketing tools and features that make it easier and more effective to connect with target audiences and inspire them to act. 

5. Not Having Effective Portable Solutions

Many people require remote care, including in remote areas and/or if they have restricted mobility. Many audiologists need to take their equipment “on the road” to provide service to customers with mobility issues or who are unable to travel to your clinics for other reasons. Whether you’re visiting customers at their homes, at retirement homes, or out in the community, you need the most sophisticated, accurate solutions in a portable package. That’s where Measure comes in. It’s a sleek, portable, flexible, connected solution that makes clinical data available to other systems. That means you can work online or offline, access and input data while on the road, and then upload updates to the cloud once you return to the office. With seamless integration to NOAH and a modular architecture, Auditdata’s solutions make it possible to add the specific modules you need, wherever you go. Have access to REM, Speech Mapping, etc. with our state-of-the-art portable solutions. 

 

Measure - Diagnostic Audiometer & Fitting Unit - 1

6. Experiencing Unnecessary Equipment Downtime

When was your equipment last calibrated? And how much downtime did that create? Whenever there is an issue with the audiological equipment, typically, hearing clinics need to wait for a technician to come onsite to service their equipment. This results in equipment disruptions and downtime, which is inefficient for your business and inconvenient for your customers.

Calibration Service Auditdata

But calibration and service do not require downtime. At Auditdata, we understand the importance of proper equipment calibration, and we also know that businesses need to maintain stable operations with no downtime. Therefore, we support our customers with our Auditdata SWAP service. This means that we ship calibrated transducers to your clinics well in advance of the calibration due date for the old ones. You plug in the new transducers, and you’re ready for your next client without any interruption. Then, you pack up your old equipment and return the expired transducers through the mail to Auditdata with no downtime at all. It’s truly that simple.   

Make Calibration Downtime a Thing of The Past! 

Read this blog is about the importance of calibration of your equipment and how you can make calibration downtime a thing of the past.

Avoid (or solve) these common operational challenges and you’ll enjoy a more streamlined, efficient, and profitable business. Many hearing clinics have transitioned to Auditdata’s state-of-the-art audiological solutions, including our innovative, holistic practice management system, and have experienced many significant benefits from doing so. Auditdata’s solutions offer hearing care businesses more transparency, efficiency, and accuracy, allowing them to improve their operations and customer care. 

Contact Us For More Information About Auditdata’s Solutions And/Or To Schedule A Demo

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