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At one time or another, all of us have experienced the frustration of waiting in a doctor's office. It seems as though every time we go to see the doctor or the dentist we end up having to wait for a ridiculous amount of time, and then when we finally do get in, we are only *treated* for a few minutes and then sent on our way. I have always wondered why that is the case. If the doctor is only seeing each patient for a fraction of the time that the patient had to wait, then what are they doing behind the scenes? As a student in the field of business, I have often wondered if doctor's offices are slow because they might possibly be a little bit disorganized. I have friends that work in medical offices and they have said to me that things can be a bit crazy because there is so much paperwork that goes on and time to be organized is hard to come by. In this article I would like to propose a few solutions to help medical offices to be more organized.

My first suggestion comes by way of organizing all of those hard copies that come into the medical office. To get started first head down to your local hospital supplier or office supply store and get some hospital chart dividers. The heavy ones with the plastic tabs will last longer and make it easier to find medical records in the future.

Next, have your medical assistant collect and sort the incoming records according to their proper divider. After they all the records are sorted according to a specific category, the assistant should then go back and sort each section and put into some sort of chronological or alphabetical order. When all the records have been categorized and ordered, write a page number on each page so that if the page gets used later it can easily be put back in its exact same location.

Finally, take your organized record to a copy service and have the whole thing copied. After you have it copied, take both complete records and have them 3-hole-punched and put them in binders. Label your copied set of records as *edited copy* so that you may underline, highlight, and write on it as needed.

Another suggestion I have is that you use specialized computer software to keep your medical collection intact. There are several software options out there that you can use many will be able to suit your needs. I will be talking about medical collection software from AdvancedMD.

AdvancedMD provides a complete software solution for your medical office. It is available online and is automatically backed up. You can access your medical information from virtually anywhere. With their medical collection software you can:

• Automate worklists, right in the system
• Collect more dollars with less work
• Create easy follow-up tasks and reminders
• Create productivity reports to help managers supervise and train staff

When a collector signs in to AdvancedMD's collection software, they can see immediately what patients have been assigned to them, which ones should be contacted first and allows them to contact the patient by phone or by automated letters. All actions are then recorded in the *actions* tab with recommended follow-up dates.

There are also many other software solutions out there that can help you with your medical collection and office management. I have provided a few suggestions on how to make your office more organized and more efficient. I know, in the world of business, that companies that are organized run more efficiently and more smoothly, which leads to higher revenues and more satisfied customers. To you, the reader, I say, if you work in a medical office or know someone who works in a medical office, I invite you to take advantage and share this information so that we all may benefit with either a more organized, profit maximizing office, or a shorter wait in the doctor's office next time we go in for our appointment.