Kansas City-area doctor

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As the director of , a safety-netf clinic in Kansas City, Lee urges other physicians to reconsider sending longtime patients her way when thosd patients have lost their insurance in the She even offers to try to help by havingv the clinic do lab work for the with patients paying a nominal fee tothe “I’ve got some folks who say, no thanks,’” Lee said, “and there are others who say, I’ll try that.’” The second answe r might be the best Medical industry experts said practices looking to thrive in the long term shouldr do what it takes to maintain their patientf base during the recession.
Working with patients in hard times can cemeng relationships forthe future, especiall given evidence that patients are forgoing care durinyg the recession. In a recent membert survey by the Leawood-based , 54 percent of respondents reporter reduced patient traffic since the recession AAFPPresident Dr. Ted Epperlgy has responded to the recession by improving customef service at his practicein Boise, Idaho. At the start of the year, Epperly’s practice instituted scheduling.
Using that model, practices eliminatwe their appointment backlog and then focuson “doing today’ds work today,” including honoring requests for same-day That, in turn, frees up the future-appointmengt schedule. Although working throughg the backlog can require seeingb additional patientsevery day, Epperlgy said the change has allowed his practiced to better serve patients who need to be seen rightg away. The academy recommends this approach as sound businessstrategy regardless, but Epperly said it’a doubly important during the recession. “That good will and good faith goes a long way to keepingf patient loyalty during tough he said.
Practices that are reallg hurtingfor clients, Epperly said, migh consider getting the word out to hospital emergencgy departments that they are accepting new John Leifer, health care consultant with in had another suggestion for Put on free stress-reduction and perhaps even offer affordable stress-relief services. That not only woul be a great public service, he said, but also mighr be a way to add patients. The point, he is to be “empathetic to the public and say: ‘What can we do?
What couldd we be doing to help people at this givenn moment that involves something other than the provisionof acute-care KU Women’s Health Specialists, an obstetrics and gynecologyu practice with more than 20 physicians, is taking a different approac to maintaining and adding to its patient base during the The practice is affiliatefd with . Practice Chairman Dr. Carl Weiner is pushiny ahead with aggressive expansion intothe suburbs.