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Primary Practice Improvement Tips

"Life is Like a Box of Chocolates...
you never know what you're going to get!"

Delicious tidbits filled with patient centered practice improvement – from your peers.

One of the most popular activities at the recent Learning Collaborative was called "Box of Chocolates"-- participants in the National Demonstration Project shared quick, inexpensive and easy improvements that had real impact on their practices.

These tips from the actual experiences of NDP providers and PMs are all great ideas you can put to use TODAY to increase productivity, team communication and motivation, patient satisfaction and more. Be sure to bookmark this fun and useful article and then share it with your friends and colleagues.

Lauren Shub
Cranford Family Practice - Cranford, NJ
We painted our waiting rooms and our exam rooms a deep mocha color and installed new upholstered furnishings. The darker colors and softer furnishings give the sense that the decor "hugs the patients." When choosing colors for your office, be bold! Go a little darker than your first choice.

Theresa Shupe, MD
Lifetime Family Medicine - Haymarket, VA
I bought inexpensive fabric on sale and asked one of my patients that sews to make the practice some nice, soft gowns. They're not appropriate for every type of visit but they're great for physicals.

Katrina Taylor
Trinity Clinic — Whitehouse - Whitehouse, TX
We did a patient feedback survey and heard from our patients that they didn't like the magazines in our waiting room. So we got some new ones! It was such a small thing, but so many patients have mentioned to us that they enjoy the new magazines.

Cindy Kizer, MD
Olio Road Family Care - Fishers, IN
We had many patients say they didn't understand what makes our family medical practice special, so we decided to explain it in pictures, We invited a group of our patients to an event at the practice and we had a photographer come in and take photos. Our waiting room is now decorated with beautiful, professional quality photos of our patients that tell the story of "who we are."

Daila Pravs, MD
Family Medicine, Geriatrics and Wellness - Lower Gwynedd, PA
As I am explaining diseases, conditions and treatments to patients, I write and draw on the exam table paper and at the end of our visit I give it to them to take home.

Bill Harrington, MD
Sommerville Family Practice, PC - Midlothian, VA
We always make sure to keep crackers and something to drink on hand to give to fasting patients after their tests are complete.

Maria Ciambra
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Community Health Center - Lebanon, NH
We track birthdays so we can send out inexpensive birthday cards. If a patient comes into the office on their birthday, we sing to them in the waiting room. We also make sure to attend funerals. We do this because celebration of birth and remembrance in death are both part of being family.

Judy Snyder
Harborwood Family Medicine at the Lakes - Muskegon, MI
We've used inexpensive decorations such as pictures, lamps and a decorative fireplace to separate our waiting room into two separate areas-- a fun area for kids and a warm, cozy area for patient who want calm and quiet.

Earlene Gibbs, RN
St. Luke's Wood River Family Medicine Clinic - Hailey, ID
One of our patients is a well-known local artist, so when we painted the waiting room we also re-decorated with new pieces bought from her. Our patients comment on it all the time.

Kristin Brown, MD
Westshore Family Medicine - Muskegon, MI
After a mom delivers we send her a rose - pink or red depending on the gender of the baby.

Melissa Gerdes, MD
Trinity Clinic — Whitehouse - Whitehouse, TX
Our office is quite near to a small shopping area. If we're running behind we write it on a board in the office so that patients can see our schedule and if they wish to go shopping or get a coffee rather than sit in the waiting room, they can do that.

Marta Kroo, MD
MHS Primary Care, Inc. - Cromwell Family Practice - Cromwell, CT
Because our patients told us that they found our office cold and unwelcoming, I began to look at the office more from their perspective. I realized that we had many signs saying "don't do that and don't do that" but none that said "you are welcome here." So I put up a sign in the window that simply said "Welcome!" Many patients have commented on that sign and the way it makes them feel.

Cynthia Croy, MD
Family Health Center of Joplin, Inc. - Joplin, MO
My dad brings in his old Family Handyman and auto magazine to put in the waiting room. Patients tell me all the time that they love those men's magazines. Dad does stained glass and we have his work hanging in the office along with my mom's quilts. Patients tell me they love the way it looks, and even more -- what it means-- because it's my family.

Susan Andrews, MD
Family Practice Partners - Murfreesboro, TN
We have a bulletin board in the office and we urge our patients to post their family photos there for everyone to see and share. We also put pots of geraniums on the front stoop outside. They're both inexpensive but it really gives us a homey feel and patients just love it.

Susan Nelson, MD
Harbor of Health - Memphis, TN
Each month the docs and the staff nominate a staff member who's really gone above and beyond -- whether in providing patient care or improving office processes-- to receive the "the magic wand award."  The wand is just an inexpensive party item that makes noise when you jiggle it, but we've decorated with ribbons and sparkly stuff to make it special. Even though it has no inherent value, per se, it's highly coveted!

Cindy Kizer, MD
Olio Road Family Care - Fishers, IN
We were training our staff on our data portal but finding low adherence so I put my head together with some of our managers and we came up with some "how this impacts patient care and a patient's life" scenarios to illustrate for staff why we are doing this. Helping them to really internalize that it's not "just numbers or paperwork" but rather the health of our patients has made all the difference.

Angela Mambu, RN
Family Medicine, Geriatrics and Wellness - Lower Gwynedd, PA
Our providers and staff thought we were doing well with our HbA1c, etc., but when we got back our stats from RMCC pay for performance we realized we weren't doing that well. The simple fact of seeing those numbers led to improvement.

Danetta Duncan
Family Practice Partners - Murfreesboro, TN
We are very focused on financials. I do daily summaries for our docs – charges, adjustments, insurance posted and insurance filed, checks un-posted, etc., plus a weekly average on how well our front office does in collecting co-pays up front.

Bob Eidus, MD
Cranford Family Practice - Cranford, NJ
We have refill protocols. We also educate patients about our refill policies and procedures in all our materials:  check first with the pharmacy and then call a dedicated refill line. We are very clear about exactly what information we must receive to refill the prescription.

Melissa Gerdes, MD
Trinity Clinic — Whitehouse - Whitehouse, Texas
We use an automatic refill protocol that's a part of our CDM. It helps our quality parameters and ensures that we get our patients in for the proper tests. We do contracts with all patients who are on chronic controlled substances. We require patients to come in to the office to get a refill. No phone-in refills. This is important for staying on top of the patient's care.

Randall Rickard, MD
Family Practice Partners - Murfreesboro, TN
We were having some problems alerting our back office that patients were ready so we bought a door bell at Lowe's to signal "Chart's ready! Patient's ready!"

Bruce McElroy, MD
Central Oregon Family Medicine, PC - Redmond, OR
Chart prep in advance via our EHR allows us to do better and more efficient scheduling. We can make notes that a particular patient talks a lot or that another takes longer because they're in a wheelchair.

Denise Gwaltney
Olio Road Family Care - Fishers, IN
We found ourselves running back and forth to get encounter forms, and all kinds of paperwork so we made a simple change: we generate the encounter form up front but we print it out in back.

Tracy Pike, RN
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Community Health Center - Lebanon, NH
Our building is spread out over two levels so we use walkie-talkies we bought at Target to communicate with each other.

Christine Hoffman, MD
Family Practice Partners - Murfreesboro, TN
Our practice has improved efficiency of communication by doing "huddles". What's a huddle?

Kitch Czernicki, LPN
MHS Primary Care, Inc. - Cromwell Family Practice - Cromwell, CT
There's a 35-year age difference between my co-worker and me...but we strive to find the common ground. We have weekly meetings and learn from each other. We do fun team activities like line dancing, hikes and picnics. Common goals and shared vision keep you on track. We're different people– so rather than paper over our differences we celebrate them!

Richard Paris, MD
St. Luke's Wood River Family Medicine Clinic - Hailey, ID
We have one scheduler for 7 or 8 providers. We moved her workspace right next to the nurses. She's so close now that she can see the effects of her scheduling decisions and interact directly with the nurses.

Susan Nelson, MD
Harbor of Health - Memphis, TN
I had no input into the design of our offices. When I first saw that there were only 8 chairs in our waiting room, I was horrified. But over time my understanding has changed: you don't need a big waiting room with lots of chairs, because no one should be waiting! So don't make your waiting room big...keep it moving!