About the Book
A Better Way For Doctors & Patients
Are you a doctor who wants to give patients the best care, yet struggle with the demands of managing the clinic and the business? Or are you a patient who’s tired of poor service, impolite greetings, and providers in a rush? Doctors Jeff and Susan Kegarise are here to give you hope. There is a better way—for both patients and doctors.
In One Patient At A Time, they open the doors to their Nashville practice to let patients see how leadership, systems, staff, and doctors combine to deliver patient-focused, relationship-driven care. And they show doctors how to provide this kind of care by giving specific, implementable steps that drive a culture of service to patients—one that patients clearly see as unique, enjoyable, and a better experience than the typical doctor visit.
Read this book and you will never look at your healthcare experience or your practice the same. And you will be better for it.
Table of Contents:
Why We Wrote This Book The Vision Focus on the Patient’s Care and Experience Lesson 1: Putting Patients First Lesson 2: Answering the Phone Is an Opportunity Lesson 3: Smile When You Say That Lesson 4: Greet Everyone with a Smile and Make Eye Contact Lesson 5: Welcome to the Office! Lesson 6: It’s a Reception Area Lesson 7: You Do a Lot—Make Sure Your Patients Know It Lesson 8: Greeting the Patient IN the Reception Room Lesson 9: Help Me Up So I Don’t Go Down Lesson 10: Have Someone in Charge of Care Lesson 11: Wait, Don’t Walk So Far and So Fast Lesson 12: A Conjunctivitis Did Not Just Walk in the Door Lesson 13: I Can Hear You—Why Aren’t You Taking Care of Me? Lesson 14: Personal Info Is as Important as Medical Info Lesson 15: Shhh—Use Soft-Touch Keyboards Lesson 16: Duck! And Don’t Slam the Door Lesson 17: Education Is a Part of Care Lesson 18: Certainty Is More Valued Than Uncertainty Lesson 19: And I Would Do Anything for You, But I Can’t Do That Lesson 20: Change Is Good If You Give It First Lesson 21: At Y(our) Service Lesson 22: Proud to Be an American Lesson 23: I Will Show You to the Bathroom and Back Lesson 24: Murphy’s Law of Clinical Care Lesson 25: Double Take Lesson 26: Doctors Should Make House Calls Lesson 27: Honesty Is the Best Policy Lesson 28: Provide Charitable Care—Internally Lesson 29: New Patient Cards and Personalized Notes Lesson 30: Even If You Leave, You Are Always Welcome Here Lesson 31: Thanksgiving with Patients Lesson 32: Transferring and Receiving a Call—Rinse and Repeat Lesson 33: Smile for the Camera Lesson 34: $10-$10-$100 Making Smiles (Yours and Theirs)
Focus on Leadership and Strategy Lesson 35: Look in the Mirror Lesson 36: The Mission Must Live! Lesson 37: One Mission, Five Important Goals Lesson 38: We Believe in BBs Lesson 39: Strategy Is a Process, Not an Event Lesson 40: The Annual Strategic Review Lesson 41: Laminated Yearly Goal Cards Lesson 42: Minimize “Staff Infections” by Having Good Staff Meetings Lesson 43: Have a Staff Meeting Once a Week, and Always Train Lesson 44: Staff Meeting Notebooks Lesson 45: The Empty Chair Speaks Loudest Lesson 46: Pick a Patient of the Week Every Week Lesson 47: Staff Meeting Thank-Yous—Appreciation Notes Lesson 48: WOWs Lesson 49: Stick Your Neck Out Award Lesson 50: Crazy Antics Say It’s Okay to Do Crazy Good Things Lesson 51: Fire Up! Ten, Nine, Eight Lesson 52: What We’re Afraid Of Lesson 53: Do Not Open the Door—until We’re Ready Lesson 54: The Gap—and I’m Not Talking Jeans
Focus on Management: Reinforcing the View Lesson 55: You May Never Know All the Facts, but You Still Have to Make a Decision Lesson 56: Sometimes the Best Decision Is No Decision Lesson 57: Good Enough to Act Lesson 58: Think Not What Your Patients Can Do for You but What More You Can Do for Your Patients Lesson 59: Don’t Use Cruise Control When You’re Driving Downhill—There’s a Truck on Your Tail Lesson 60: The Lost World—Laugh at the Scary Parts Lesson 61: Accelerated Benchmarking—Outside Healthcare Lesson 62: Accelerated Benchmarking—Disney-esque Hierarchy Lesson 63: Never Apologize for Fees Lesson 64: Name’s on the Door! Lesson 65: How You See Is as Important as What You Say Lesson 66: We’re Still Learning. Are You? Lesson 67: Once-a-Year Testing Lesson 68: He Takes a Shot and Scores! Lesson 69: Urban Meyer Units—As You Grow, Stay Small Lesson 70: Heads Up—Make It Visible Lesson 71: It’s Getting Hot in Here Lesson 72: We Are in It for the Money—at Least Partially
Focus on Developing, Building, and Nurturing a Culture Lesson 73: You Just Have to Demonstrate Lesson 74: What We’re Not Afraid Of Lesson 75: Be Proud of the Appearance of Your Staff Lesson 76: A Little Personalization Builds a Lot of Relationships Lesson 77: Lanyards? The Staff Says No Lesson 78: Show Off Staff Accomplishments—Not Just Doctors’ Lesson 79: You Want to Make What? We Want You to Make More! Lesson 80: Favorites—We Know What You Like Lesson 81: Sometimes You Have to Demonstrate Over and Over—or Watch Dr. Susan! Lesson 82: The First Thing New Staff Members Should Hear Lesson 83: We Are Not Closing Today; We Are Getting Ready to Open Tomorrow Lesson 84: Doctors Don’t Talk Fees Lesson 85: We Almost Never Celebrate the Person Who’s Leaving Lesson 86: Moments of Truth in Clinical Care
Focus on Our People and Behaviors Lesson 87: Praise Frequently—but Know When and Where Lesson 88: Have a PIC NIC Lesson 89: Don’t BS Us, Cuz We Won’t BS You Lesson 90: Don’t Take It Personally Lesson 91: Those Who Trust and Those Who Don’t Lesson 92: How You Listen and Respond Is as Important as What You Do Lesson 93: And One Reviews Lesson 94: No Sinner Was Ever Saved with One Sermon Lesson 95: Your Skills Are Great, Yet We Expect More Lesson 96: What Is Your Value? Lesson 97: How Much Do You Weigh? Lesson 98: You Can’t Buy Loyalty Lesson 99: Firing—Doing What Is Right Lesson 100: Rehiring Previous Employees Lesson 101: We’ve Got Your Back Lesson 102: The Best They’ll Ever Be Lesson 103: Don’t Be a Jerk, or, How Do They Handle Being Served Cold Soup? Lesson 104: The Kegarise Theory of Relativity on Hiring Lesson 105: Sleeping with the Owner Lesson 106: Never Be Completely Satisfied
Focus on Systems that Provide Better Service to Patients Lesson 107: Loyalty Matrix Lesson 108: Treat the Person First, Then the Process—Recovery Lesson 109: Pareto-izing Our Recovery Results Lesson 110: You May Not Be an Owner, Yet You Still Own Lesson 111: Monthly Loyalty Review Lesson 112: Communication Marketing— Listen, Document, Target
Focus on Efficiency and Effectiveness Lesson 113: If Your Reception Room Becomes a Waiting Room, That’s Inventory Lesson 114: Don’t Balance Capacity with Patient Demand Lesson 115: The Doctor Should Be Your Constraint Lesson 116: Active, Not Passive, Systems Lesson 117: Top Gun—Scribe as Wingman Lesson 118: More Calls Out Than In
Focus on Creating Consistency in Imaging and Marketing Lesson 119: Fonts and Consistency Lesson 120: Anything Written Represents Us Lesson 121: Pet Peeve—Handout Inconsistency Lesson 122: Laminate for Emphasis Lesson 123: Our Practice Logo Lesson 124: Leave a Business Card Lesson 125: Dressing Our Offices Lesson 126: It’s Cold Outside, Yet We All Dress the Same Lesson 127: Are You Fully Dressed? Lesson 128: What’s in Your Pocket? Lesson 129: Develop a Good Relationship with a Nice Restaurant Lesson 130: My Favorite Restaurant—a Table Full of Notes Lesson 131: I’ll Take a Four Top, Please Lesson 132: Keeping Up Appearances Lesson 133: Where to Smoke ’Em If You Have to Have ’Em Lesson 134: No Front Door Entrance or Exit for Us Lesson 135: Office Design and NeverLost
Putting It All Together ACKNOWLEDGMENTS APPENDIX CONTACT INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHORS
About the Author :
DR. JEFF KEGARISE is a graduate of The Ohio State University College of Optometry. Subsequently, he completed his residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a board-certified optometrist and Clinical Management Expert. Having lectured for many years on clinical disease, his management methods were recognized by one of three international experts by The Institute for Healthcare Improvement. This prestigious honor allowed him to be part of a national effort to improve the care delivered by doctors in practice through the Idealized Design in Clinical Office Practice Project. Through his lectures in healthcare, consultations and personal interactions, he has inexorably led practitioners toward enjoying the care they provide using innovative, patient focused service methods. Along with Cool Springs EyeCare, Dr. Kegarise’s wife, Dr. Susan Kegarise is an integral part of their other practices, including Donelson EyeCare, Performance Vision Therapy, and many other specialty clinical patient services.
Dr. Kegarise takes a personal interest in the vision and lives of his patients. Additionally, he founded The Tiger Institute where he provides insights and educational opportunities for all healthcare professionals (doctors, residents, students, administrators, managers and staff) to grow clinical, operational and developmental management skills, thus enabling them to build their own thriving practices.
DRS. SUSAN KEGARISE and JEFF KEGARISE, OD grew their Nashville eye care practice to seven times the national average in less than ten years by putting patients first … always. Their multi-office comprehensive eye health and vision care practice continues to grow and pursue excellence. Their goal is to help patients expect more and doctors deliver more in every patient visit. They reside in Franklin, Tennessee and have three grown children, Christen, Kevin, and Kelli. --This text refers to the paperback edition.
Review :
In this book, Jeff and Susan simply and articulately share their recipe that has supported their success as professionals and in their personal lives. Leadership, system thinking, focusing on what matters to patients, and developing teams of people to provide evidence-based care have been their true north. It has been an honor over the years to learn with Jeff and an honor now to reflect on his and Susan’s journey. They are forever teachers and we are lucky. —Marjorie M. Godfrey, PhD, MS, BSN, FAAN, Director, The Dartmouth Institute Microsystem Academy, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth; Lebanon, NH, USA
If you want a guidebook for improving your medical practice, this is it. Jeff and Susan live there—on the front line—and they’ve grown several successful companies based on the principles outlined in this fabulous book. The book is filled with great, useable ideas and it’s highly readable. I highly recommend it. —Charles M. Kilo, MD, MPH, CEO, GreenField Health, Former VP, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
