Turning Pain Points into Progress: How PracticeVital Revolutionized My Practice

PracticeVital was born out of my own pain points as a practice owner. Like many of you, I faced countless questions about my practice that I could never easily answer. I hired consultants to help – a fellow practice owner could share their experiences, a fractional CFO might fill in some financial gaps, and my practice manager would pull reports and piece together spreadsheets. But it was never a complete picture and never gave me the answers I needed. 

I had so many questions including small, one-off things like:

• How many DBT groups do we run each year?
• How much revenue do those groups bring in?
• How often is a particular clinician canceling their appointments?

Or larger, ongoing questions like:

• How many sessions is this clinician averaging per week?
• What’s our average reimbursement rate per session, and does it vary by clinician?
• Are we up or down in weekly sessions practice-wide compared to last year?

The Turning Point: Real-Time Insights

Once I implemented PracticeVital, I finally had the real-time insights I’d been missing. For example, a clinician asked for a raise, and because they were experienced and had been with us for a while, I agreed. But after reviewing their data in PracticeVital, I discovered they were only averaging 15 sessions per week, far below the expected 20 for full time employment. Their retention rate was also shockingly low, with only 40% of clients staying for 8 sessions. It became clear that this clinician wasn’t the person to reward with a raise – they were struggling to meet minimum expectations. 

This was a wake-up call: we can’t change what we don’t know. Clinicians aren’t usually aware of their own cancellation rates, churn rates, or even their average number of sessions per week. Without regular access to that data, it’s impossible for them to make adjustments that would benefit themselves, their clients and the practice.

Small Changes, Big Impact

Once we had the data, we started making small but meaningful changes. One simple shift was teaching clinicians to explain the process of therapy to clients early on, emphasizing that therapy takes time (at least 8 sessions) and recommending weekly appointments. This one small change had a significant impact on retention rates.

Positive Changes Since Using PracticeVital

Since implementing PracticeVital, we’ve made several changes to improve our systems and streamline processes:

• Improved Systems: We regularly check if clinicians have enough active clients to meet their weekly session goals.
• Leadership Metrics Review: Every month, we share practice-wide numbers like sessions completed for the prior month, and adjust our marketing plan accordingly. We also review team utilization to make data informed hiring decisions.
• Coaching Clinicians: During monthly supervision, we use the data to coach clinicians on areas like cancellations, retention, and enforcing policies.
• Sharing Insights: We share relevant PracticeVital blog posts during team meetings to spark discussions around areas we can improve.
• Rewarding What We Want to See More of: We now compensate clinicians based on more than just productivity, which has helped to align our goals as a team.
• Accountability: A screenshot showing any overdue notes is shared weekly with each team member to ensure timely completion.
• Recognizing What’s Going Well: We can easily see what’s working well and we give shout outs to those on the team, for example, who have no overdue notes or who have made improvements or met their goals. 

The Results

The changes we’ve made as a result of using PracticeVital have had a clear, positive impact:

• Alignment on Goals: We’re all working towards the same objectives, and it feels like we’re a true team.
• Clarity for Clinicians: Clinicians know what’s expected of them, and there are no surprises in supervision or annual reviews. They’ve also shared they like knowing if they are on track for a bonus or to meet their own financial goals. 
• Reduced Overdue Notes: Overdue documentation has decreased significantly.
• Lower Cancellation Rates: Clients better understand the therapy process and attend sessions more regularly. Clinicians appreciate having a full schedule and enough sessions to achieve their financial goals. 
• Hitting Session Goals: All clinicians are now meeting their weekly session goals consistently.

PracticeVital has transformed how I manage my practice, allowing us to operate more efficiently, and ultimately provide better client care. If you're a practice owner who feels like you're constantly piecing together the story of your practice, PracticeVital might be just what you need to get the answers you need and to create meaningful change.