What a truly awful expression!
It was said to me recently by a medical secretary who was struggling to get all her invoicing done.
Her belief was that she had only many hours in the day and it was difficult to get everything done in those hours. Therefore invoicing was completed when time allowed.
In other words, it was a low priority. There were more important things to do.
I’m sure there were. But it depends on what you decide is a priority and what is not.
Available time
I’m in the office at 8am and I finish at 8pm. Monday to Thursday that timespan is there every day. Friday it’s 7am to 1pm.
The day actually starts the evning before when I list in my Ical all the task for the following day.
The tasks ALWAYS start with invoicing clients clinics from the previous day. That takes top priority because MHM gets paid to make sure it’s clients get paid which starts with raising an invoice.
So that task can take me a few hours; somedays it may take me a whole morning. But it’s done everyday.
A medical secretary has other things to do as well. Dealing with patients is one. Typing clinic letters is another. And the phone keeps ringing too.
She has to do those things because they are priorities.
But if time doesn’t allow her to raise invoices, then the practice won’t get paid. It is a simple as that.
Priorities
It’s not time that is dictating if a practice gets paid, it’s setting priorities that dictates if a practice gets paid.
Isn’t a strange that one of the first things to be kicked down the list of things to do is raising invoices? That is unfortunate considering getting paid is important because if the practice doesn’t it won’t be around for long.
And here’s the dilemma.
Everything is important. Dealing with patients. Typing letters. Answering the phone. And even raising invoices. They all have to be done.
The problem starts though when any one of them is neglected at the expense of another.
In that situation the very worse thing you can do is carry on regardless and muddle through somehow.
That inevitably leads to disaster.
pete@medicalhealthcaremanagement.co.uk