Neil H. Baum, MD

Neil H. Baum, MD

Tulane University School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Medical School, Vanguard Communications Group

New Orleans, Louisiana

Neil H. Baum, MD, is a Clinical Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also a retired urologic surgeon. Additionally, Dr. Baum serves as the Medical Advisor to Vanguard Communications Group. Dr. Baum is the author of Marketing Your Clinical Practice - Ethically, Effectively, and Economically, which is in its 4th edition, has sold over 175,000 copies, and has been translated into Spanish. He also wrote The Complete Business Guide to a Successful Medical Practice, which was published in 2015. Dr. Baum was the columnist for American Medical News for more than 25 years. Dr. Baum also wrote the popular column, “The Bottom Line,” for Urology Times for more than 20 years. He is a requested speaker each year to the Practice Management Seminar for the American Urological Association (AUA), where he discusses techniques for making urology practices more efficient and more productive. He has written more than 9 books on practice management and over 250 peer-reviewed articles on various urologic topics. Dr. Baum is also the medical advisor to Vanguard Communications Group.

Disclosures:

Talks by Neil H. Baum, MD

Organizational Mission Statements for Medical Practices

Posted by | Feb 2022

Grand Rounds in Urology Contributing Editor Neil H. Baum, MD, Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School, gives advice on how medical practices can formulate organizational mission statements, and explains why they are important in maintaining a motivated staff. He defines a mission statement as a truth told in advance that tells where a doctor and their practice are going. Dr. Baum then lists reasons why a practice should write a mission statement, explaining that mission statements help patients understand a doctor and their practice, separate a practice from the competition, and can bring patients closer to a practice. He also describes the essential elements of a mission statement, noting that it should contain the physician/practice’s philosophy of patient care and their principle beliefs, should state the practice’s ideals, and should inspire doctors, staff, and patients. Dr. Baum shares his own practice’s mission statement of “commitment to providing the best health care for our patients, to exceeding patients’ expectations regarding their health care, and to attention to the LITTLE details because they make a BIG difference.” He recommends that others do as he has done in his practice and make it so employees and patients regularly see the mission statement by displaying it in the reception area, exam room, and employee lounge, as well as on brochures, newsletters, stationary, websites, and blogs. Dr. Baum follows this with advice on how to craft a mission statement, suggesting that doctors look at mission statements from other businesses, review hospital mission statements, and involve all of the staff and doctors of the practice in the process. He concludes with an example of how his practice’s mission statement helped motivate his staff to pay attention to the little details and better maintain the cleanliness of the practice’s restrooms throughout the day.

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Time to Cut Down the Phone Tree

Posted by | Jan 2022

Grand Rounds in Urology Contributing Editor Neil H. Baum, MD, Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School, discusses the problems with phone trees and gives suggestions for how medical practices can replace them. He observes that a telephone call is typically the first interaction between a patient and a doctor’s office, so the experience should be a good one. However, Dr. Baum argues, phone trees can make that first impression a negative one since phone trees can be difficult to navigate, can result in callers being on hold for a long time, may force callers to restart the lengthy process if the call is dropped, and may make it difficult for callers to leave a message. To determine whether a phone service is causing problems, Dr. Baum recommends conducting a survey of patients with questions about how quickly the phone was answered, how long callers were placed on hold, how difficult the phone tree was to navigate, and whether callers were able to speak to a human. He then gives three suggestions on how to cut down the phone tree including: conducting a telephone traffic study to determine when to make sure a greater number of people are available to answer the phone; increasing phone availability to include early and late hours when working people are available; and trimming or removing the phone tree to make the process simpler.

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The Elevator Speech: Getting Your Point Across in Thirty Seconds

Posted by | Jan 2022

Grand Rounds in Urology Contributing Editor Neil H. Baum, MD, Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School, discusses elevator speeches and explains how physicians can use them to effectively advertise their practice to potential patients and business partners. He defines an elevator speech as a way to tell your professional story in 30 seconds. Dr. Baum states that, due to the fact that first impressions are established in less than seven seconds, elevator speeches are effective thanks to their short length. He recommends beginning an elevator speech with a 7-10 word headline to grab a listener’s attention, and following up with an explanation of how you will achieve the promise in your headline. Dr. Baum suggests ending an elevator speech with a 1-3 sentence success story that is customized to your listener’s needs and makes them want to invest more time with you. He concludes that elevator speeches provide a great opportunity to connect with potential patients and that a good elevator speech will capture the listener’s attention.

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Conducting Effective Staff Meetings

Posted by | Jan 2022

Grand Rounds in Urology Contributing Editor Neil H. Baum, MD, Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School, gives advice on how urologists can improve staff morale in their practices with effective staff meetings. He explains that a highly motivated staff is one of the pillars of a successful practice and argues that the purpose of staff meetings is to get staff feedback, identify problems, introduce new ideas, and enhance morale. Dr. Baum notes that key elements of running effective staff meetings include circulating an agenda, taking notes, preparing a to-do list, and sending out notes within a day or two of the meeting. He particularly focuses on the importance of bringing “sparkle” to staff meetings by, for example, having staff share the best things that have happened to them in the practice since the previous meeting, or by acting out relevant scenarios. Dr. Baum emphasizes providing an environment that is fun, rather than an environment where everyone is moving from one crisis to the next. He also gives suggestions on how to improve performance reviews, recommending that urologists try to do one with each staff person every three to four months and have them complete a worksheet with questions about their goals before each review. Dr. Baum also suggests periodically surprising staff with fun activities to show appreciation. His bottom line is that by taking good care of staff, a urologist ensures that staff will take outstanding care of patients.

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Improving Productivity, Reducing No-Shows

Posted by | Jan 2022

Grand Rounds in Urology Contributing Editor Neil H. Baum, MD, Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School, gives advice on how urologists can identify the causes behind and reduce the number of no-shows in their practices. He defines no-shows as patients who miss their appointments without calling ahead of time, leaving expensive holes in a practice’s schedule. Dr. Baum recommends that urologists identify the cause of no-shows in their practice by reviewing the electronic medical record, calling patients to ask why they did not keep their appointment, calculating the number of no-shows on a quarterly basis, and monitoring the trend. He explains that no-shows tend to be self-pay and Medicaid patients, patients with urgencies or emergencies, new patients, and patients given appointments for dates more than 4 or 5 weeks after they call. Dr. Baum then gives several suggestions on how to prevent no-shows, such as creating daily “sacred” time slots in the schedule for new patients, urgencies, and emergencies so that these patients can be seen soon after they call without disrupting the schedule. He also recommends sending automated appointment reminders that give patients the option of confirming, canceling, rescheduling, or leaving a message. Dr. Baum argues that charging no-shows is not a great option, since these fees can be difficult to collect and can create ill-will. Instead, he suggests urologists should consider no longer giving appointments to repeat no-shows. He concludes that preventing no-shows is a proactive process and that urologists should identify and remove the obstacles preventing patients from keeping their appointments.

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