The holiday season checklist for independent practices: Essential steps for ending the year strong
Streamline your independent practice’s year-end tasks with this checklist that covers everything from patient records to marketing strategy.
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At a Glance
- Independent practices need a comprehensive year-end strategy that covers multiple critical areas including patient records, financial management, and administrative updates.
- This checklist encompasses essential tasks such as updating patient information, reviewing financials, planning marketing activities, organizing patient communications, preparing staff for holiday schedules, and ensuring compliance with various regulations.
- By systematically addressing these areas, practice owners can close out the year efficiently, reduce stress, and set themselves up for a successful start to the new year.
The end of the year is a busy time for practice owners.
There’s a long list of items to think about: last-minute patient visits, employee incentives, taxes, new year strategy, and making time for loved ones. All these take both time and commitment, which can be tricky to balance amid the festive season.
With a clear strategy and the following comprehensive year-end checklist, you can ensure everything is squared away before closing up shop for the holidays.
Update patient records
- Review, update, and record patient medical histories, medications, allergies, lab results, procedures, treatment plans, health goals, follow-up needs, contact information, and insurance details for the upcoming year.
- Check all billing, consent forms, and financial documents to ensure they’re completed, signed, up to date, and filed.
- Review and update patient payment history, noting any outstanding balances or overpayments before the end of the year.
- Update the patient portal with correct information on test results, schedule appointments, and practice contact details.
- Archive patient records correctly for patients who have completed their treatment course or who are no longer active.
Review your financials
Review accounts receivables and follow up on outstanding bills with patients, insurance companies, and vendors to ensure invoices are paid or scheduled for payment.
- Ensure medical coding systems are up to date with any regulatory updates or insurance changes for the new year.
- Conduct an inventory count for all inventory your practice maintains to keep it accurate and manageable.
- Gather all tax filing documents, such as expense receipts, payroll records, income statements, and depreciation schedules.
- Review and update patient payment records, payment options and plans, and financial policies to ensure they’re accurate and current and that any changes are clearly communicated to staff and patients.
- Schedule a year-end meeting with your accountant or financial advisor to review reconciliations, expenses, taxes, potential deductions, internal controls, accounting practices, and financial performance, and plan for the upcoming year’s budget.
Plan marketing activities
- Evaluate your practice’s marketing strategy, marketing goals, and objectives for the upcoming year.
- Review and update your content marketing calendar for the upcoming year.
- Review performance of traditional and digital marketing channels and return on investment (ROI) of paid digital ads over the past year to know what worked best.
- Review your marketing budget for the upcoming year and adjust if needed. Allocate more resources to the most effective campaigns and initiatives.
- Focus ads for the rest of the year on high-demand services, especially those patients may need before year-end.
- Ensure your website is optimized for mobile responsiveness and search engine optimization (SEO) to improve online visibility.
- Send out holiday cards or email greetings to patients.
- Review and optimize your social media strategy by sharing holiday-themed posts, engaging with patients’ comments and reviews, posting patient testimonials, and scheduling content for consistent activity.
- Check Google and review sites and use the insights to inform service delivery and patient care for the upcoming year.
- Verify Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines for marketing efforts and review up-to-date patient data privacy policies, especially on using third-party communication tools.
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Organize patient communication and education
- Send preventive care reminders to patients due for routine exams, screenings, and immunizations to schedule appointments before the end of the year.
- Send text messages, emails, or letters to patients about upcoming appointments and updates on any upcoming changes.
- Staff can also personally call patients who are due for care or have unused benefits to schedule appointments. This approach is particularly effective for older patients who might not have access to email or text messages.
- Check insurance deductibles and remind patients to schedule appointments or procedures before their insurance deductibles reset.
- Set up out-of-office (OOO) voicemail and email responses with clear instructions on office hours, emergency contact information, and appointment rescheduling.
- Send out text messages and an email marketing blast with tips and recommendations to help patients stay healthy during the holidays and New Year health goals.
Prepare staff for the holiday schedule
- Set holiday hours, including early closures, days closed, shortened or extended hours, and on-call availability.
- Hold a pre-holiday meeting to discuss expectations, holiday schedules, and any workflow changes.
- Post the holiday schedule in visible areas in-office, on your website, and in the staff portal notifying staff of shift coverage, changes to regular working hours, and any emergency care arrangements.
- Cross-train team members or arrange for hiring temporary help, if necessary.
- Ensure each employee submits their holiday time-off requests in advance.
- Address time-off and vacation requests and approvals, and review paid time off (PTO) policies with staff.
- Conduct year-end performance reviews and set clear goals for the new year.
Review policies and procedures
- Review office policies to ensure compliance with HIPAA, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, and any new state or federal laws on healthcare, insurance, or billing.
- Check and prepare for any upcoming regulatory changes in healthcare laws or insurance policies for the upcoming year.
- Evaluate financial policies for compliance with payer requirements/agreements and alignment with current market rates.
- Review and update employee handbooks to include any HR policy changes.
- Evaluate and update technology and security policies, including patient communication protocols, electronic health records (EHR) usage, cybersecurity measures, and telemedicine guidelines.
- Assess and update patient interaction policies, such as appointment scheduling, canceling, and rescheduling, reminders, follow-ups, patient satisfaction processes, and service protocols.
- Ensure patient data privacy, access, security, audit, and reporting policies comply with privacy laws.
- Review and update marketing, advertising, and communication policies and strategies to align with patient preferences, HIPAA guidelines, and healthcare marketing laws and regulations.
- Update quality assurance and risk management policies and protocols for patient safety, clinical errors, and malpractice prevention to align with best practices.
- Ensure supply and ordering inventory policies are efficient and comply with regulations.
- Review and update operational and facility maintenance protocols, disaster and emergency procedures, contact information, and evacuation and safety protocols.
Review administrative and operational updates
- Review and update patient communication protocols.
- Assess whether any contracts and service-level agreements (SLAs) need renegotiation or changes and update the terms to reflect current needs and expectations for the upcoming year.
- Verify that medical licenses/certifications and malpractice insurance policies are renewed for the upcoming year.
- Review and update information on your website, online directories, and social media pages.
- Back up and securely store all patient data and ensure it’s easily retrievable if needed.
Wrap up office maintenance
- Ensure all proper repair and maintenance of medical equipment.
- Conduct a thorough year-end office cleaning.
- Refresh the practice’s waiting area with new or seasonal decor.
Closing out the end of the year at a practice can be a daunting task. With this holiday season checklist, you can save precious time, avoid any last-minute stress, and have a hassle-free closure.
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