New Year, New Systems: A Systems Approach to 2025
A new year brings new opportunities, and there’s no better time to evaluate how your practice operates.
As private practice leaders, you know the pace of daily demands can make it hard to pause and take stock. But January offers a natural reset—a chance to examine your systems, refine what works, and fix what doesn’t. Streamlining your workflows not only reduces stress for your team but also creates the space to deliver better patient care.
To guide you, we’ve drawn from some of the most influential business minds and their insights on systems thinking. From Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline to Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto, we’ll explore how a systems-based approach can help your practice run more smoothly and efficiently—without burning out your team.
Let’s break this down into four actionable steps, each designed to help you evaluate, refine, and improve your workflows for a stronger start to 2025.
Step 1: Audit Your Current Systems
“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”
– W. Edwards Deming
The first step to improving your systems is understanding them. What’s working? What isn’t? Where are the bottlenecks? An honest audit can reveal inefficiencies you might not even realize are there.
Practical Tips for Auditing Your Practice:
Map Your Processes: Break down key workflows like patient scheduling, billing, or insurance verification into clear steps. Identify areas where tasks get delayed or repeated.
Gather Team Feedback: Ask your staff what slows them down. The front desk, billing, and clinical teams all have unique insights into what’s working and where they’re spinning their wheels.
Review Key Metrics: Look at your data—missed appointments, claim denial rates, patient wait times. These numbers can highlight areas where your systems are breaking down.
Tools to Help:
Use a whiteboard or digital tool like ClickUp to visualize workflows.
Create a simple survey for team feedback to identify pain points.
Step 2: Adopt the Power of Checklists
“Checklists protect against failure caused by the limits of human memory and attention.” – Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto
One of the simplest yet most powerful tools for improving workflows is the humble checklist. Gawande’s research in medicine and aviation shows that checklists reduce errors and improve outcomes—even in high-stakes, complex environments.
How to Use Checklists in Your Practice:
Standardize Repetitive Tasks: For example, create a step-by-step checklist for insurance verification or patient intake to ensure nothing gets missed.
Prepare for Common Scenarios: Develop checklists for handling patient complaints, no-shows, or emergencies so your team can respond consistently.
Integrate Into Existing Tools: Embed checklists into your practice management system or shared platforms so they’re easy to access and use.
Pro Tip:
Keep checklists short and focused on critical tasks. A 10-item checklist is far more effective than a 50-item one.
Step 3: Refine and Automate Where Possible
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” – James Clear, Atomic Habits
Efficiency isn’t about working harder—it’s about working smarter. Clear systems, automated tools, and well-defined roles help your team stay focused on high-value tasks, rather than drowning in unnecessary work.
Practical Ways to Refine and Automate:
Embrace Automation: Use tools like automated appointment reminders, eligibility checks, and online patient portals to reduce manual workload.
Streamline Communication: Use centralized communication tools (like Slack or ClickUp) to eliminate email overload and ensure everyone is on the same page.
Document Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly define who owns each task in a workflow to avoid confusion or duplication of effort.
Tools to Consider:
Patient engagement platforms like Solutionreach or NexHealth for automated reminders.
Digital intake forms to streamline the patient check-in process.
Analytics tools to monitor how new systems are improving efficiency.
Step 4: Build a Culture of Continuous Improvement
“The only sustainable competitive advantage is an organization’s ability to learn faster than the competition.” – Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline
No system is perfect, and that’s okay. The key is to commit to continuous improvement. By creating a culture where feedback is valued, experimentation is encouraged, and growth is celebrated, your team can keep evolving without fear of failure.
How to Foster Continuous Improvement:
Hold Regular Debriefs: After busy weeks or major changes, gather your team to discuss what worked and what didn’t.
Encourage Team Ownership: Involve your staff in refining workflows. The people closest to the work often have the best ideas.
Celebrate Wins: Recognize when new systems make a difference, whether it’s fewer billing errors or shorter patient wait times.
Your Next Step:
Start Small, Think Big
Start Small, Think Big
Improving workflows doesn’t require a complete overhaul overnight. Start with one area—whether it’s streamlining patient intake, simplifying scheduling, or automating reminders. Small changes can have a big impact, both on your team’s workload and your patients’ experience.
At Wayfinder, we believe that better systems create healthier practices, and healthier practices create better care. If you’re ready to explore new tools, refine your workflows, or take your practice to the next level, we’re here to help. Let’s make 2025 your most efficient, impactful year yet.
Amy
