10 rules for efficient practice workflows

Proven quality improvement principles borrowed from business and manufacturing industries can help medical practices eliminate inefficiencies in their workflows that are causing frustration and costing physicians and staff time.

Examples of inefficiency in a process include the following:

• Unnecessary waiting (e.g., long patient waiting times in the exam room), 
• Unnecesarry movement (e.g., walking down the hall to access a printer or to find a team member),
• Unnecessary variation (e.g., exam rooms stocked differently),
• Unnecessary steps (e.g., providing the same information multiple times),
• Unnecessary handoffs (e.g., routing approvals through multiple managers).

Here are 10 rules to help streamline your processes:

1. Clarify the value or purpose of the process from the patient’s perspective. For example, the purpose of the checkin process from the patient's perspective is to confirm their arrival so they can be seen promptly.

2. Eliminate any steps that do not add value, such as duplicate forms or paper forms that staff later have to enter into the EHR.

3. Don’t batch and queue. Instead, endeavor to deal with each task as it presents to you, keeping the process flowing continuously (e.g., reviewing and signing off on lab result as they arrive, instead of letting them accumulate).

4. Standardize the process (e.g., patient rooming) so employees follow the same steps every time, eliminating the need for guesswork and improving cross-coverage.

5. Strive for fewer handoffs, allowing employees to be responsible for a complete task, where possible. Use standing orders to empower them.

6. Simplify the process wherever possible with fewer steps and fewer people involved.

7.  Eliminate waits and delays both within steps and between steps.

8. Correct errors or defects at the moment they occur. Don’t send them ahead to the next step in the process.

9. Question the movement of people or things within a process. For example, if you find that you have to leave certain exam rooms to get certain supplies, stock every exam room consistently, eliminating wasted trips.

10. Don’t set up a task force to improve your processes. Instead, begin immediately by making someone accountable for the continuous improvement of each key process and letting the people who do the work improve the work.

Read the full article in the FPM archives: “Making Every Minute Count: Tools to Improve Office Efficiency.”

Updated April 17, 2026 by FPM Editors