Operations & Systems

Every practice has two operating systems: the one described in the policy binder and the one the staff actually uses. Improvement starts by writing down the real one.

This chapter walks the patient and the paperwork through your practice step by step — scheduling, intake, the visit, documentation, coding, claim, payment — and marks every point where work waits, doubles back, or depends on one person's memory.

What good operations look like

• Standard work exists for the ten tasks that repeat every day
• Nothing critical lives only in one person's head
• Handoffs are explicit, with a defined owner on each side
• Exceptions are logged, not absorbed
• The schedule reflects real capacity, not optimism