Setting up in Private Practice is hard, there’s no doubt about it.
Your Practice Management System should be the heart of your practice and ensure everything from initial contact with the potential customer all the way through to them receiving care with you runs smoothly. Whilst also ensuring that you don’t have to do everything manually every, single, time.
You know what I’m talking about, those tasks that take hours and hours every week that you just can’t seem to shake off? Those are the ones that any GOOD Practice Management Software Company will have already identified, solved and mean they’re no longer taking up your valuable time!
So where to start? Same place as most people in the market for any product or service I guess, Google. If you google Practice Management Software you get something that looks a little like this:
Just a quick point to note here - ALL of these are ads. This isn’t a problem, just be aware of it when you’re searching. You can tell they’re ads because before the text, top left corner of each link is an ‘Ad’ symbol letting you know.
These are the people who are actively looking to engage with you. So engage with them. Have a look around their sites - look at what they do, the price, and what they say they can do for YOU. That’s what it’s really about. If they just talk about themselves, they do not care enough about you - they just want you to sign up.
If we scroll a little further down these are now the ones that ‘organically’ come up and are not paying to be there. Have lots of authority with Google too because getting on the top page of google really isn’t easy to do! These are absolutely worth a look.
If we take a look at Function 365’s Practice Management Software for a moment, you’ll see a lot of what we do is geared around helping YOU make the right choice for your practice and for US to help you solve those persistent headache problems costing you valuable time each week.
It's time for a demo. I know, I know, no one wants to be sold to but how can you see how awesome someone's software is and if they’re actually going to be able to help you achieve those goals without looking at the software?
Schedule 3-5 demo’s and make sure you ask these 10 questions:
Question 1 is about your data and YOUR PATIENTS data. If they cannot, straight off the bat, tell you where the data is being stored and shout about how safe it is - RUN AWAY. Do you want to put your patients' data into the hands of someone who doesn’t even know where it’s going? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!
Question 2 is all about them valuing you as a client, is there someone to speak with if I have a problem. Not just a knowledge base or video tutorials on how to do things, a real person on the end of a phone or video call to talk you through solving problems at a time you need it. Again if the answer is no, ask yourself, if the software is so good, why don’t they have the service to back these claims up?
Question 3 how much does it cost and how much will it cost me in future when I grow. SUPER IMPORTANT! If you want to run a successful practice with lots of practitioners you need to know how much this is going to cost you. Lots of companies out there will have no problem luring you in with an amazing introductory price but when it comes to adding on practitioners it jumps up A LOT. Do your homework and make sure that if you scale it can scale with you. That way you’ll avoid having to do a mass migration to a better piece of software further down the line.
QUestion 4 How long has the company been going? This one is more about what stage they’re at in their business. Some have just finished building this shiny new piece of software and haven’t properly tested it yet. Reality check - you’re probably the guinea pig here!!!
If they’re new, ask them how many clients they have, what teething issues they’ve come up against and what further developments they have planned. This will ensure you know the scale they’re working at and if they plan to make large changes - if everything changes overnight the software you initially signed up for might look very different in 12 months!
Question 5 is all about their goal in the industry. Most people won’t say it but it’s to earn money, of course, why else does anyone run a business? But there are lots of reasons people choose to develop and build a software company for the healthcare sector. Perhaps they’ve had first hand experience in the private healthcare space and know how hard it is and think they can make a difference? Whatever their reason, it’ll let you know a little more about the company and what drives them and ultimately will help you decide if they’re the right fit for your business.
There are plenty of other good questions you can ask when you’re looking for a Practice Management Software Company so take some time before any call and do your homework. If they’re the heart of your practice and that breaks, the body can’t work with a broken heart.
I’m hoping all of this has put you in a position to go out there and be confident that you’re trying to find the right fit for your company. If it has, awesome, we’d love to be on your list of demos too!
Book one with us here today: Book Now
