The Complete and Only Medical Office Checklist You’ll Ever Need

About 45% of physicians run their own medical offices.

If you’re thinking about starting your own practice, or you just opened your doors, you’ll quickly learn that there are many things that you need for your medical office.

It won’t run smoothly by itself, and you want to give your patients the impression that you have it together. When you have an important piece of equipment missing, it doesn’t inspire confidence in your services.

Keep reading to learn what the most important items your medical office needs to operate efficiently.  

1. Specialized Equipment

The first thing you’ll think of is specialized equipment for your office. You should start off with emergency equipment, such as AED devices and oxygen supplementation.

Think about your daily routine as you work with patients. What equipment will you need? The list may vary between practitioners that specialize in different areas of medicine. For example, an OB/GYN would need ultrasound equipment.

Diagnostic equipment such as stethoscopes, thermometers, and blood pressure monitors will be necessary. Don’t forget about basic procedural equipment such as gauze, needles, cotton pads, and tissues.

You’ll also need a steady stream of medical supplies. Personal protective equipment is a must for all practitioners and office workers. Gloves, masks, hand sanitizer should be widely available for you, your staff, and your patients.

You’ll want to have bandages on hand and sample sizes of aspirin and other types of medicine to reduce fevers and pain.  

2. Great Employees

You have to have an outstanding support system to help your office run well. When you’re just starting out, you may be OK with running your office on your own.

Once you realize the administrative work involved, you may change your mind about that. You have to be able to bill patients and insurance companies and make patients feel welcome in your office. It’s also much easier to have someone manage your calendar for you and schedule appointments.

You may decide to start out with just an office manager and a medical assistant to allow you to work with more patients. That’s the easiest and fastest way to grow your practice.

3. Office Management Software

One of the top investments you need to make early on is in practice management software. This is software designed to help you keep everything in one place.

You need to have access to patient records, manage appointments, invoice patients, bill insurance companies. You also need a system to manage the financials of your practice.

The right software program will have an area for patients to log in, obtain their medical records, and schedule appointments at their convenience. This will save your staff valuable time from having to do these things and your patients have a better overall experience.

4. A Complete IT Plan

Starting your medical office from scratch means that you have the chance to start with the latest technology. This can set your office apart from other doctors who are slow to upgrade systems and adopt new technologies.

With the use of technology comes more responsibility for your practice. You need to comply with HIPAA and state privacy laws, which are changing often. If you don’t comply with these laws, your practice can face heavy fines.

Hackers are targeting medical practices more often. A security breach could destroy your practice, creating a loss of revenue and a loss of trust with your patients as you’re trying to build your business.

The best way to protect your investment is to invest in HIPAA compliance services and have a complete IT plan.

5. Storage Equipment

Storage equipment is necessary to organize your medical supplies. You don’t want to have things piled up in closets or on tables. First impressions are everything, and you don’t want to give patients the impression that your office isn’t organized.

They’re trusting you with their health and they have high expectations. If there’s a sense that you’re scattered or you don’t have it together, they will look to other medical providers.

Storage equipment ensures that everything in your office has a place, and it will keep your office neat and organized. The best way to organize is to create a system and label the storage equipment so equipment can always be found when you need it.

6. A Welcoming Waiting Area

The waiting area of your practice should be warm, inviting, and personal. This can be a way for your patients to get to know you and your staff and see a side of you outside of the office.

For example, photos in the waiting area of you and your staff with families and pets are a great way to break the ice with your patients. They will immediately find a way to relate to you.

7. A Marketing Plan

How do you plan to get new patients? That is the one question a marketing plan seeks to answer. The medical field is competitive, and you need to have a plan to always attract new patients.

Start off by knowing who you want to work with. If you want to work in pediatrics, you need to target young families. 

The next step is to create a campaign to reach them. An online presence is essential because people will look for doctors online before scheduling an appointment.

Get Your Medical Office Up to Date

Starting your own medical practice is exciting. There’s a lot to think about to make sure you have everything in place to start your medical office.

This medical office checklist goes over the items that you need to have to help you run an efficient practice and grow it. You need to have specialized equipment, a marketing plan, outstanding employees, and up-to-date technology that’s secure.

For more great business tips, be sure to check out the Business section of this site.