Solo practitioner working elsewhere

Alice is a psychologist who enjoys working in a public health role as well as privately a handful of hours per week.  Alice has always thought that the security of her public health job was important to ensure that she is able to meet her financial commitments, but she welcomes the extra hours of private work to earn higher fees for her disposable income.  The problem is that without added attention the private practice work fluctuates so much that at times it is hardly worth the effort.  Added to that Alice is unable to attend to her phone consistently so client calls and new referrals are often unattended for days or weeks at a time.  Alice has always tried to keep her costs to a minimum, securing reasonable consulting room rental and spending a couple of hours per week doing her own admin trying to fill her appointment book.  Alice is sceptical of virtual administration and does not understand the financial benefits of having her phone answered when she works so few hours.

Alice’s practice specifics:

  • 5 available appointments per week
  • 2 clients on waitlist per week
  • unknown number of new referrals per week because phone is unanswered
  • 2 client cancellations or rescheduling per week
  • 10 incoming calls per week going to message bank, but not all leave a message
  • Unknown number of new referrals that find another psychologist because phone not answered
  • Alice charges $150/hour for a client consultation

Maximum possible income per week = 5 x $150 = $750

2 client cancellations cost the practice = 2 x $150 = $300 per week (40% of possible weekly income)

 2 hours of Alice’s time completing admin =  2 x $150 =  $300 per week lost consulting time completing admin tasks

 

At the end of the week:

Alice has seen 3 clients and had a turnover of $450

Alice has lost $300 from client cancellations because she did not have the time to fill from her waitlist

Alice lost $300 of her time completing admin tasks.  More than enough to pay for administration support.

Value of PsychAdmin

Alice’s turnover – $450

Loss – $600 client appointments and Alice’s time

If you add turnover to lost appointments and Alice’s time = $1,050 possible income

Therefore the practice loses 57% of possible income every week

Over a year (48 weeks of work) Alice’s practice loses up to $28,800 of potential income.

Utilising PsychAdmin service:

  • answering all incoming calls as a professional front of house for Alice’s practice
  • capturing all new referrals when they ring so they do not go elsewhere
  • managing appointment cancellations and movements at the time of call
  • managing waitlist so cancellations are filled to maximise available appointments

Potential Turnover – $750 (not including Alice’s admin time which has now been freed up to use as she chooses.  If she wants to consult she could and boost her income)

Loss – cost of PsychAdmin (in this case less than half a client a week at Alice’s fee)

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