- Neil Colvin
The Best Way To Improve Care Is By Making Sure Clinicians Are At Their Best In 2023.
Updated: Feb 27
We aim to take care of the clinicians' every "need" so that they can focus on their clients.
TheraFi offers automated appointment scheduling, reminders and confirmations; billing support; patient education resources; and more — all with the goal of improving patient satisfaction. That sounds pretty good...right? That doesn't really take care of the clinician though. It makes the patient experience better - which is always a good thing. So what do therapists need?
How about better benefits for the clinician?
1) How about better benefits for the clinicians? If you want to attract and retain talent, then you need to offer them something they can't get anywhere else. Sadly, most therapists in private practices are being offered the bare minimum when it comes to the basics. If you're going to provide health insurance coverage as part of your compensation package, then you should be willing to pay more than minimum wage so that employees can afford it on their own dime rather than having to rely on government subsidies. Orrrr... It is a business of course so get creative. Too many hospitals and private practice owners focus on getting rich off of their employees. It is no wonder that they have a high turnover rate. What if you offered to pay the for the majority of their health benefits - not just 50%. Go further and see if your employees would appreciate 65-100% paid health insurance. How about free dental and vision?
2) How about more money? It's no secret that therapists make less than what other professionals do for similar levels of education and experience. Many of these big box companies pay their therapists about 50% of what the therapist is making the company. The therapist does the work but the company provides...the client I guess. But after a while, the clinician starts getting referrals based on previous clients. Also, why keep them on but only as a contract worker? I could see starting it out that way to make sure there is a fit for both parties but unless the clinician specifically asks to stay on only as a contractor, why put such a financial burden on them? It almost seems like a parasitic relationship - paying the clinician just enough to pay the bills so that they can't afford to move on.
3) How about more respect when it comes to managing their own schedules? If you're a manager, you probably spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make your team more productive. You're probably thinking about how to get your employees to work harder or longer hours and how to motivate them.
But I have good news for you: If you trust your employees to manage their own schedules, they'll probably do just fine - especially if you are using a scheduling system. Just show them how it works and let them at it. A little training goes a long way and most systems come with loads of free training.
I'm not suggesting that you turn over the reins completely — there are still some things that managers should do, like setting goals, giving feedback and making sure that their notes are completed on time. But if you let go of the reins when it comes to scheduling, then you can focus more on helping your employees be successful in other ways.
Here's why trusting employees with their schedules works well:
It makes everyone happier — including you as a manager/owner! When people have control over their lives and schedules, they feel empowered and motivated by knowing they get to decide what they want to accomplish each day instead of having someone else make those decisions for them.
It increases productivity by reducing stress and burnout. Employees who are given autonomy over their schedules end up being more engaged in their work because they don't have any extra stressors floating around in their minds. Give them guidelines such as a minimum and a maximum amount of hours they need to work to hit their goals. Simply sit down with a calendar and plan out some basics such as planned time away for continuing education credits and any company holidays. Then let them take it from there. At TheraFi, we let the clinician know what it takes to be eligible for certain benefits. It isn't rocket science, it's scheduling with a little bit of legal underwriting mixed in. From there, they post what their availabilities are and the clients make a choice based off of the posted schedule. But this doesn't just have to be a TheraFi thing. Any company... if they want to... can look at their profit margin and build out a plan that sustains clinicians so that they don't burn out.