Clustering patients on the schedule simply means that you have patient set up one after another or several during one time slot verses putting them in the ‘gaps’ on the schedule resulting in one at 9, one at 9:20, the next one at 9:40 and so on.
Cluster booking is one of the maximum capacity protocols that allows for faster and easier clinic growth for many reason including the following. 1. You will get more done. Cluster booking patients in groups or consecutive visits will naturally create gaps in the schedule for other activities for the staff and the providers. If you had four patients between the hours of 8 and 11, and those four patients are spread out evenly throughout that time period, the problem with that is that about the time you and the staff get done processing and seeing that patient, the next one is coming in about 15 or 20 minutes.
That doesn’t really give you much time to really absorb yourself into setting up your next promotion, or you staff time to focus on billing or making recalls to patients that have fallen off the schedule.Cluster booking patients helps open up ‘free’ time for you naturally. And hey – if your practice gets so busy you don’t need to cluster book because there’s no time in between anyway, more power to you.
2. You will provide social proof. By cluster booking, you’re ensuring that patients will see patients in your office which increases your creditability as a sought after doc.
If you have a patient at 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 in the morning, they may very well never even see each other on their way in or way out of your practice. Your goal is to put that 8, 9, 9:30 and that 10:30 patient together at 9, 9:10, 9:20 and 9:30 (or all in the same time slot depending on your flow and efficiency level), if your patients are scheduled 10 minutes apart for example.
By ensuring patients see other patients, everyone now knows that many others find your practice desirable. Everyone likes a little confirmation that they made the right decision.
3. It creates good energy. A busy office has good energy and is also a place that other people want to go. Even if your office is not currently at the daily patient volume level you want it to be, by booking patients close together it helps give you, your staff and your patients a taste of how fun and positive the clinic environment is when there is the buzz of activity and healing energy in the air.
Positive energy is a powerful force that everyone loves to have in their life but so few do during their day to day routine in today’s high stress and deadline driven society. Your clinic should be your patients escape out of the harsh and often negative reality of their life outside your practice. You are their sanctuary.
And besides…good energy in your practice makes the day go faster for you and the staff. Assuming you are a capable and efficient adjuster, cluster booking patients one after the other or even several within the same time slot should in no way create a scenario where you or your patients ever feel like the treatment was less than perfect. In reality the opposite will occur because when you are moving patient to patient you have the present time consciousness that will ensure a deeper and more focused connection with the patient. The key to creating a clustered schedule and ensuring you get to experience all the benefits of it is to ‘control’ the times you offer patients so that you can get them where you want them. Just as you do not let the patients dictate their own treatment plans, you should also manage their scheduling habits and make every effort to prevent gaps between patients that really are just wasted space in your now inefficient and less productive day.You will significantly grow not only as a doctor but as a competent business man or woman and enjoy your practice day more as you get control of your patients’ time on the schedule to ensure a smooth flowing day that is filled with clusters of patients.
