The Private Practice Success Podcast

59. Delivering a 10/10 Client Session

• Gerda Muller • Episode 59

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In Episode 59, Gerda dives into something every clinician cares about, being how to deliver a 10/10 client session - every single time.

This is important because although the actual session is only one part of the broader client experience and client journey, it’s the part that the client remembers most saliently. 

In a market where competition is increasing and tech and AI are becoming more common, the quality of the human experience that gets delivered in-session is becoming one of the biggest differentiators your practice will have.

In this Episode, you will learn (among others):

  • How to deliver a 10/10 client session as seen through the lens of the client, the clinician and the business.
  • What it really means for a client to feel seen and heard.
  • The behind-the-scenes compliance pieces that must happen for a session to truly be 10/10.
  • The simple confirmation habit that protects retention and reduce cancellations, without feeling salesy or pushy.

Who This Episode Is For:

  • Solo and group practice owners who want to lift client experience, engagement and retention.
  • Clinicians who care deeply about doing great work and want a practical framework to measure it.
  • Practice owners who want their team delivering consistent, high-quality sessions, beyond just ‘good enough’.

Tune in for a practical, values-based conversation that will help you deliver better sessions, strengthen your brand, and build a practice you can’t stop smiling about.

Want Gerda's Help with your Business?

Gerda helps allied health group practice owners go from overwhelmed, overworked, and underpaid to fully empowered and financially thriving. If this is you, then make today the day you reach out. Complete this super short Triage Form here bit.ly/triageformpps and Gerda will personally reach out to you. 

Here to help you build a practice you can't stop smiling about :)

Connect with Private Practice Success & Gerda here:

 Well, hello there brilliant private practice owner. My name is Gerda Muller, and you are listening to the Private Practice Success Podcast, and this is episode number 59. 

Today I want to talk to you about the topic of: Delivering a 10 out of 10 client session. In other words, an A+ client session, and I'm pretty sure that this topic is going to appeal to each and every one of you. Because whether you are a business owner or not, whether you're a solo practice owner or group practice owner - at the end of the day, we are all clinicians by heart, and we all want to deliver that A+ 10 out of 10 client session. Now for context, I want to preface this by saying that when we look at this first through the business filter - because this is obviously more of a business kind of podcast than a clinical podcast, right. 

For context, business wise, there is this overarching client experience. So a client, whether it's a potential current or past client, there's a client experience that exists. In other words, from them, just looking at your social media, making that first call, all of the things, that's the client experience. Then there's what's referred to, from a business perspective as the client journey. So once somebody goes, ‘Yes, I'm going to now be a client’, what is that process they go through? So what we are doing in today's discussion is drilling down to the client session, which is only one tiny part of the client journey, and of the bigger picture client experience that somebody has with your practice, alright, so we are talking client session.   So why is this topic important? So  important that I've decided to talk to you about it today? Well, there are many, many multiple reasons, so I'm going to share with you the first three that popped into my head. And as you listen to this, you might go, ‘Yeah, I agree with those Gerda’. Or if maybe you are listening to it and you're going, ‘No, no, no, you have missed something super important.’ I encourage you to reach out and let me know what that is. 

The three things that really popped into my head in terms of why it is important for us to deliver a 10 out of 10 client experience is the following, and that is to provide a positive experience with the mental health system. Now as a private practice owner with a private practice, meaning this is a private business, I know that private practice plays a really important role within the general mental health system. Now, if you are listening to this and you're going, ‘But I'm a physio, I don't work in mental health.’ That's okay, you are part of the Allied Health system, a super important part of the industry as well. But whether you are in Allied Health, or we drill down on the mental health part of Allied Health or any other part, you've got a role to play. So there's the public part of the system, there's the NGO, that's the charities and non-government organisations that still get funded, and then there's us, the private practice.  I see it as a really important part of my responsibility, that if somebody comes through our part of the Allied Health, and particularly mental health system that I'm a part of as a business owner, but also as a clinician - because I chose to work in this part of the system - I've got a big responsibility to ensure that each and every client that comes through this part of the system has a great experience.

I see it as a fundamental part of what my role is as a clinician, is to advocate for people to look after their mental health. And I can only do that when I'm also part of the advocacy to reduce the stigma around mental health and around help seeking behaviour. Which means that it's really important that when clients come through our doors that they have a good experience. Because I can tell you when people don't have a good experience, they will be very quick to tell other people about it. To give you a bad Google Review or if they're not comfortable putting something on a Google Review page, they will be telling other people not to go there. Or if they're not talking about your practice specifically, they're just going to say, ‘Psychologists are shit, been there, tried that, and they didn't help me. It wasn't good.’ And I don't want that. For every person that has a bad experience, they might tell five other people who might be then discouraged from seeking help. That's not what I want. 

Every client that comes through our doors, needs to have a client experience that allows them to go -  you know, I'm a very private person when I speak to somebody and I can see they need help, and I'm going to be comfortable enough to say, ‘You know what, I've actually sought help as well, and it really helped me. It was a great experience. It was a helpful experience.’ I see it as an important part of our role, not only as private practice owners, but as clinicians to ensure that every client that comes through our doors has a positive experience with the mental health or the allied health system that you are a part of. That's the first, and for me, personally, most important reason why we want to endeavor with each and every client session for that to be a 10 out of 10 client session. 

The second important reason is client retention. Now, you might be thinking I know it, that's all about the business, right? No, actually, it's not. Because you know what, and again, I'm, I'm putting this through my filter of being a psychologist, and dependent on your allied health discipline I want you to put this through your filter as well. But the way I look at it is this, I know as a psychologist, yes, I can make a big difference in one session with a client. But you know what? With every subsequent session that the client comes in, guess what? I'm having a compounding impact in their life. Because yes, clients can get value from one session, but the value compounds with every session that they come for. Because I might share with them, let's say a strategy in one session. Then they go home, they try it out, they come back and they go, ‘Well, that didn't work.’ Because sometimes that happens people, okay, none of us are perfect. 

There's a lot of tools in our toolbox, and we in session try to make the best assessment based on what the client is providing and giving and sharing with us right now what the right tool is for them, but sometimes we might select the wrong tool, and that's okay, that doesn't mean it's not a 10 out of 10 session. It's 10 out of 10 because you actually ask at the next session, ‘Was it helpful?’ And you've created an environment where the client feels comfortable to go, ‘No, it didn't help. You can go, ‘Oh, thank you. Alright, let's see what went wrong. How did you implement it? Okay, let's try something new, let’s try something different. Let's see how that goes.’  Clients get better over time.  It's the compounding improvement and they only get better if they are in session with you. You can only fix what's not working if they are at the next appointment. So client retention is incredibly important. Because at the end of the day, that's how the client gets compounding value from the service that they are engaging in. By providing a 10 out of 10 client session, that leads to client engagement and ultimately client retention, that is good for everybody involved.

Finally, the third reason why providing a 10 out of 10 client session is so important is that it has a direct impact on your brand quality and image. Let that sink in. I know that in our industry, we don't often think about competition, but I can tell you somebody that works with a lot of practice owners, that there has been a lot of new practices opening up in the market, which is amazing because for a very, very long-time client demand outstripped supply significantly. But I am seeing that more and more and more people are struggling with filling their appointments, struggling with their marketing, struggling with getting consistent referrals. What I will also say is that even when demand was really high, brand quality and image was still super important. It will always be important. Especially now that we are going into an era, I, I should really say, we are already in an era where there's a lot more stepped care options, there's a lot more AI, there's a lot more tech platforms providing services within the mental health and allied health arena. So if you want to stand out in that arena that we are now engaging in, you need to ensure that the human interactions that your clients are having with your clinicians are a 10 out of 10 experience. 

I actually love AI. I enjoy tech. I enjoy what it can do from an efficiency and an access perspective. So efficiency as the business owner, access as the clinician because I want as many people as possible in this world to have access to mental health. But I also know that the more AI and tech orientated the world becomes, the more people are going to start craving human connection. Human connection will always remain important because at the end of the day, we aren't robots. We are humans. When somebody wants a human experience of the people and the clinicians at my practice, I'm going to ensure that it is a 10 out of 10 experience. So in terms of our competitive advantage out there - and when I say competitive advantage, not only competing with other group practice owners or with other solo practice owners, and I can keep my team busy -  but also competing with platform providers like technology, AI providers. It's going to become more and more important. And I'm not saying those are threats, those are really great additions to our market. But as the business owner, I also need to ensure that my brand quality and my brand image is such that my business remains the preferred provider amongst the referrers that want to  refer to us and the clients that want to attend sessions within my practice, and I am here to ensure that that happens.

So those are the three top reasons that popped into my head about why delivering a 10 out of 10 client session is incredibly important. So let's get stuck into it. What I'm going to do is I'm going to address this topic from three different perspectives: The Client Perspective, The Clinician Perspective, and The Business Owner Perspective. Let's start with the client perspective.  

The Client Perspective

If I'm a client attending an Allied health and or mental health private practice, what will make this a 10 out of 10 client session for me as the client? I'm going to share three things under each of these perspectives, I'm sure there's way more, and you're going to have your own ideas, which I encourage you to let me know. But again, these are three things that just immediately went - this is what's important for me as a client, and maybe this tells you a bit about me as well. So I'm going to say that, you know, my personal filter comes in here as well.

Number one, if I'm a client and I'm going to go and see a psychologist, particularly because I'm a psychology group practice owner, and I'm a psychologist - or I'm going to see any other allied health professional, I want my freaking session to start on time. I can tell you nothing annoys me as much when a psychologist does not start their sessions on time. Let me say this, I feel - and this is my own values that's coming in here - I feel that it is incredibly disrespectful not to start a session on time. Especially in the world of psychology, we all know that our sessions go for 50 minutes in general, of course, in general, you know that you've got a client booked at 10 o'clock. You need to start your session at 10 o'clock. That shows respect for that person that has taken time out of their day to book an appointment with you. 

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're probably thinking a couple of things. You might go, ‘Oh, well, one or two minutes late doesn't matter, does it.’  To me It does. That's not a 10 out of 10 client session. That's maybe then a 9 out of 10 session. And you might go, ‘I'm happy with a nine out of 10 session Gerda.’ Okay, well, good for you. I want a 10 out of 10 client session for every client that comes through our doors. Another thing you might be thinking is, particularly if you're in the world of psychology, you might go, ‘But what do I do if there's a client that has become at risk , and I'm running behind?’ You really need to ask yourself, if you are running behind, why is that the case? And how often do you run behind? Are you running behind at least one day a week?  Well, that's a problem my friend. Because you should only be running behind if you actually had a client in session - let's say your nine o'clock client - you had them in session and they did what clients often do, it's like two minutes before you need to finish and they drop this big bomb that might indicate that they are at risk. And now you as a great clinician, can't just let them leave. We know you can't do that. We know you now need to make sure that they're okay. Which might mean that that person that's probably already sitting in the waiting room, waiting for their 10:00 AM appointment, that you might need to start your appointment late now.

Now what I will say is that in private practice, we are not crisis centres, so again, this is not going to happen every day. This might happen not even every week. So again, if you are using this high risk or at-risk clients as an excuse for running late, it's not an excuse. It should be the exception rather than the rule. But let's say you now have that client, you know what you do then? You walk yourself out of the consulting room to the waiting room. If you see your 10:00 AM client already sitting in the waiting room, you walk up to them, maybe just you know, crouch down, or if it's a couch, go and sit next to them and say, ‘Hey, good to see you. I'm mindful that we've got a 10:00 AM appointment booked in. I am just going to need a little bit of extra time with my 9:00 AM client to make sure that they're okay before they leave. Is it alright with you if we start five to 10 minutes later today?’ I can tell you now that no client has ever said no to me when I speak to them like that, in the 20 odd years that I've been a psychologist - nobody. 

They actually find it incredibly respectful that I've asked their permission, not that I need it, but I've actually acknowledged to them that I'm aware that you are here. You also matter. And when you are in crisis, one day I'm going to be making the time for you. And then what we do is we say, thank you so much, we go back, and we finish up with the 9:00 AM client, if you need more than 20 minutes, in other words, into your 10 minutes after your 50-minute appointment, and 10 minutes into the next appointment - if you need more than 20 minutes to manage that client, then you need to go and look at your risk management policy and process within your business, because you won't need that much. And then you will still start 10 past 10 with that client, you will give them their 15 minutes and you can start with the next client at 11. It is incredibly important to have good boundaries when you are running a clinical client session. So please start the appointments on time. 

Now, the other thing you might be thinking is, ‘Well, when I go to the doctor, they are always running late.’ I know, okay. But you also need to remember that you can't compare us as Allied Health to General Health. The general practice system runs totally differently than we do. And I, for one, even though I know all of that, I still get annoyed when I need to sit and wait at a GP surgery. But you know what I do? I do a couple of things, sometimes depending on what mood I'm in, I might call them up and say, ‘Hey, I've got a 3:30 appointment with Dr. So-and-so and I just wanted to check if they're running on time, or do you need me to come a little bit later?’ And, you know, reception actually finds that incredibly helpful. So that I might do from time to time. Or I'll go, okay, I'm no, I'm going to the GP I know they're normally late, totally get why and understand how they operate, so I'm going to take my laptop and I'm going to do some work whilst I'm there, I'm going to make sure my laptop is fully charged, so I go prepared. But I do not expect, and I do not want that to happen at a psychology business or Allied health for that matter, because we aren't general practice - totally different environments. So please, you need to be on time, because that is what your client is going to want, and you want to show that respect for them. So that's the first one. 

The second thing from a client perspective, if I'm coming in to see you for this to be a 10 out of 10 client session for me, I want us to actually talk about what I want to talk about. So I want to know that my agenda for our session today is going to get attention. In other words, I want to leave the client appointment feeling like you've actually listened to what I had to say, that you actually allowed me to talk about what I wanted to talk about. And during this session I felt understood and I didn't feel judged at any point in time. So that is what is a 10 out of 10 session for me as a client in terms of that emotional experience that I have when I'm there. I want to know that what I'm bringing to the table during today's session is considered important by you, and that you're going to deal with it accordingly. 

Then the third thing from a client perspective is what I refer to as my before and after emotional state. I want to know, as a client, when I leave the session, I want to feel better than what I did when I walked into that session. Now you might go, ‘Oh, Gerda, that's really hard. If you're a psychologist doing trauma work and there was processing and you spoke about really difficult things.’ I would argue that even if it's a really tricky session, people still feel better afterwards, if you structure your session appropriately. If you start the session with, ‘This is what we are doing today, you do and you deliver your intervention, and you put that bow on it again at the end and go, ‘This is what we've done today and this is why this matters.’ For clients to really see the progress, for them to understand what I just experienced. That educational piece is also incredibly important, so that as a client, I need to know that I am better off now 50 minutes later than what I was when I walked in here at 10:00 AM. 

Now if you are a child and adolescent psychologist or a pediatric clinician, you might go, ‘Oh, but I work with kids. I'm not sure that kids have the cognitive ability to have that understanding.’ But this is where you need to speak to the parents. Parents are incredibly important as part of the service that you deliver. So when you work with children and adolescents, yes, your client is the kiddo that's in session, but the client is also the parents, their legal guardians, their primary caregivers. So this is where you need to ensure that you have conversations with them, right? So I always encourage our child and adolescent psychologist to always speak to the parents before the session starts. Even though, and a lot of child psychologists will tell me, ‘Oh, I've asked the parents in the waiting room, did you want to catch up today?’ And the parent would go, ‘No, we're all good.’ It's like, no, that's not how you do it. Because nine out of 10 times they're just going to go, no, it's all good. So you don't ask that question in the waiting room. You need to make it part of your process that the parents go into the session, they sit down on the couch, on the chairs, whatever you've got, and you ask the question in there. And if they go, ‘No, there's no issues.’ You ask at least another one, two, or three prompting questions, to really get what has been happening. Because sometimes parents forget things.

You know, it's really hard being a parent. There are so many things that you carry in your head all at the same time. And then you still have a job and you've got all these responsibilities, sometimes you forget and you need a bit of prompting and, and reminders to go, ‘Oh, this actually happened. But it was like two days after the last session, which was like, you know, 10 days ago and I almost forgot about it. But thanks for asking and bringing it up.’  So, you have to ask. Even if the parents don’t have anything, then you go, ‘Alright, that's really great to hear, so this is what we're going to be doing today. How does that sound?’ Parents go, ‘Great.’ And then you walk them out. Then at the end of the session, once you've spent the time with the child, you bring the parents back into the appointment and you go, ‘This is what we did today.’ Because maybe sometimes you do something completely different based on what actually then happened and transpired in that appointment. And you go, ‘This is what we did today, and this is why that was important, this is why this matters, and this is what I need you as the parent to be mindful of when you take little Johnny home.’ That is how you ensure that you've ticked this before and after box for child and adolescent clients. You do it by focusing on the parents.

So that is from the client perspective for me to walk away feeling I had a 10 out of 10 session. I want you to start my appointment on time. I want you to address my agenda for the day, and even if I go in there with no agenda, I want to feel listened to, understood, and not judged. And I want to feel better leaving than when I did when I walked into this appointment. Next we're going to look at this from the clinician perspective.

The Clinician Perspective

If I'm the helping professional, the psychologist, the occupational therapist, insert whatever your clinician title is, how do I know that I have delivered a 10 out of 10 client session. First of the three things, so again, I'm going to share with you my three thoughts on this.

Number one, did I provide the three things that the client wants? You know, the stuff that we've just discussed from the client perspective. Did I actually start the session on time? Did I ensure that I addressed the agenda that the client came into the session. And did the client feel better when they left the appointment than when they started the appointment. That's the first thing I need to be able to go, yes, I've addressed those three things.  

Second thing, from a clinician perspective. Whilst doing the three things that's important to the client, did I still ensure that we - as a client clinician team - did I ensure that we were working towards the treatment goals that the client told me they had when they started sessions? Because we all know that sometimes it's very easy for clients to go down a rabbit hole, and sometimes we need to go down the rabbit hole with them. Sometimes there is stuff that's happened, new crises that have popped up that need to be addressed. But at the end of the day, the clinician, me as the clinician, I'm the navigator here, it is my job to remember what are we working towards again? And maybe from time to time we need to have that discussion and go, ‘Is that still what we are working towards? Or has the destination changed?’ So it's really important when clients can get caught up in their day-to-day lives, for us to be there in their day-to-day lives, and give them the skills and the strategies to manage it, to problem solve, to deal with it, and sometimes walk away from it  - whatever is relevant. But still then being able to take them out from that and go, okay, ‘Is this still aligned with those bigger goals that you had when you started? Remember when we had that first appointment and we discussed why it is that you've decided to come in? Is this aligned? Is what we are working on today going to move us closer to getting to that place?’ 

At the end of the day, we do not want clients to be in sessions for 20 years, because we just stay stuck in the day-to-day stuff with them. And I know again, if you work in the child adolescent space, depending on the presenting problem, sometimes that is the case, but ultimately people need to get better. Ultimately, people want to get better. And it's only when we can keep our eye on the goal that we can get there. Sometimes, you know, it takes a long time. Some people get there sooner than others, and that is okay. It's really about respecting the goals, making sure that we talk about that, and for me as a clinician, to also fulfill my role as the navigator that's going to get us there. Also very importantly, ensuring that as we work towards those treatment goals, we do so in a best practice, evidence-based manner. Not only that, it also needs to be trauma informed, and if you work with Neurodiverse clients, it needs to be neurodiversity affirming care. So you need to put all of this through the filter of the type of discipline you're in and the type of work that you do. In terms of what is the entire framework within which I need to operate - and every session needs to be aligned to that. Because ultimately, it's my job as the clinician to act as the navigator, and to get us there in an informed, affirming, safe manner that is going to allow the client to achieve the goals that they are here to achieve.

The third thing that I will ask myself as a clinician if I wanted to determine whether I'm providing a 10 out of 10 client session is: Did my client feel seen and heard within this appointment? I. Which to me goes deeper to point number two within the client perspective where we said, have you addressed a client's agenda, did they feel listened to, understood, and was it done within a nonjudgmental environment? I feel that this goes even deeper than that. Because I want to know, did my client truly feel seen and heard in here, because a lot of times I find clinicians just like, you know, tick, tick boxes in sessions, especially if they're doing very manualised treatment, for example, and it's really important to meet the client where they're at. I'll give you a personal example of this, which I don't do that often. I give a lot of personal examples as a business owner, but not so much as a human, but you know. Me, I'm a very stoic person. Let's say that I'm of a South African background. We are really hard workers. We've got a lot of persistence, there's a lot of determination and grit and we just push through and I'm sure a lot of Aussies can relate to that as well. But that's the cultural background and the upbringing that I had. And then on top of that, I'm also a psychologist, which means I do have a lot of skills. I have a lot of coping mechanisms. It also means that I'm really good at compartmentalising, right? I am really good at masking when I need to. And all of that means that as a human, I'm really good at containing my emotions, but sometimes that's not helpful. 

I clearly remember probably one of the hardest times in my life from a personal, emotional perspective was after my last child was born this was in 2011. So Ethan was born in March 2011, and I was due to open up my second practice in September, 2011. It was a really busy time in the world of business. My practice manager also resigned 10 days after Ethan was born, and I thought I had all my ducks in a row. I spent like six, eight months leading up to his birth, really getting her ready to manage the practice in my absence. I did not have a principal psychologist at that time because this was pre any business coaching. Remember, I only discovered that there was a thing called business coaching in January of 2012 - which changed my life, of course. So this was pre all of that. So, I had a baby, had two other young kids, had my third baby and the practice manager resigned 10 days in, due to open up a second four room practice in September in a couple of months. Oh my golly. It was not a good time and I remember going in and seeing my clinical supervisor in Brisbane, Catherine and that day was one of my ugly crying days. I didn't cry a lot in supervision because like I said, I'm a very stoic person, I'm good at masking my emotions and keeping it all contained, and I just couldn't do it any longer, and I just started bawling, ugly crying in that session. And, you know, babies feel the energy and the vibe of their parents, and Ethan was a couple of weeks old. He was sitting in one of those carry things that you carry your baby in the little mini car chairs that you can also carry around, and he started crying and I was just about to pull myself all back together again so that I could get him out and give him some care and attention and Catherine just - and she'll probably won't even remember that she did this - she just went, no, I've got him. 

She took him out of the seat, and picked him up and she consoled him. And I just cried even harder after that and I can still even feel the emotions in my chest right now, and we are talking like this was, it'll be 15 years ago in March this year. He's turning 15 in 2026. And I just felt so seen in that moment, because somebody noted that I needed help. Golly, this is, I was just talking about how stoic I am, but you know, the body remembers, and it meant so much to me that I didn't have to be the strong person in that moment. She didn't say anything to make me feel better. She just let me cry, but she took over consoling my baby so that I could just let out what I needed to let out. And that meant so much to me. So much. and that it was a moment that I realised that this is what it means to make a client feel, seen, and feel heard. So I'll just take a moment to pull myself back together., I'm not crying at all. No, I'm not. But it's just emotional thinking back because it's like I'm back in that room with her when I think about it - when I recounted, I'm back in the room -  and that is how impactful that was for me 15 years ago. Imagine doing something like that for a client. And you probably don't even know that you're doing it. because I can tell you she's probably forgotten all about it. But it is so important for a client. So just ask yourself, am I really allowing clients to be heard and to be seen? Because doing that is an incredible, powerful gift that you can gift to a client, and the ripple effect of that in their world, in their life will still be felt 15 years later - maybe even longer.

Last, but most certainly not least, let's talk about the business owner perspective.

The Business Owner Perspective

As the owner of the business, how do I know that we've delivered a 10 out of 10 client session? Well, maybe you've guessed it. As a business owner, I want to make sure that we've ticked all three of the boxes that we discussed as part of the client perspective. Secondly, I want to make sure that we've ticked all of the three boxes we've just discussed from a clinician perspective. So that is six things already from a three from a client, three from a clinician perspective that needed to be done. So that's the first thing I want to make sure has occurred. 

Then second thing, and I'm going to call this compliance. Has all the compliance items been completed for this specific session? Because yes, that process and experience within the session is important, but just as important is the accompanying compliance work that needs to happen. Case in point - case notes. I shudder when I think about the amount of clinicians that either just doesn't do proper case notes, or doesn't do it on time. And yes, we are now in the world of AI and there's so many options for AI note taking. But I can tell you not even a quarter of the clinicians out there have taken this up, because change is slow.  You're always going to have your early adopters, and those are the people who're like, ‘Yeah, I'm using it. It's amazing. It's life changing. It's so much more efficient.’ All of the things, and there's pros and cons to all of that stuff. And AI, yes, it can save you a lot of time, I will say that, but you still need to put your eye over it. I for one, don't just trust that AI is going to do it perfectly every time, even if you use an amazing AI note-taking software after the appointment, you still need to go through it and make sure that that's an accurate reflection of what was discussed in session. Because AI isn’t going to be sitting in the witness box one day, right? If your notes get subpoenaed, you can't say, ‘Oh, well that's what the AI software recorded. That's not on me.’  No, sorry. It's on you. You are the individual with the registration. Even if you were an employee, the way that it works in Australia is that you are being held responsible for it, because it's your Medicare provider number, it's your registration number under AHPRA okay? 

You need to make sure that whatever gets notated and before that case note gets locked in on your software, that your eyes have gone through it, and that you are standing behind it 100%. There are still a lot of people that sometimes take weeks before they write up their case notes. I don't know how people do that. That's just crazy to me. Even in the days of paper files, if I had that 10 o'clock appointment, it would finish at 10: 50 and by the time I walk out to get my 11 o'clock appointment, I'll be walking out with my hard copy file, giving it to reception and getting my client walking back in - case notes all done, no problemo. We can do it. If people are struggling with that, then we need to really start looking at why, because then there's a process issue there that's not working because maintaining and writing case notes is a skill that can be learned. Don't assume people have it, because you would go, well, that's a really basic skill. No, never assume. Basics is incredibly important. Probably more important than the more fancy stuff that we teach our clinicians. So it's business owner. I need to make sure my team knows how to write good case notes in a time efficient manner. - Very important. So have the case notes happened. 

If it was a six session under Medicare, has the report been completed? Has it gone off to the doctor? What are those communication processes that are related to this specific session that we've just had today? If it was a six session, we probably also needed to do some post intervention assessments. Did that happen? Did we give the adult client a DAS42 to do? Did we give the child clients, parents and the child, depending on the age, a strength and difficulties questionnaire? Insert whatever type of assessments you use within your practice as part of your pre and post intervention outcome data, okay. Those things need to happen. So has the compliance items related to this specific appointment occurred, and also very importantly - linked to that - other compliance items are stuff such as billing. Have we billed for this appointment? If it's an NDIS client, is it a work out of a client? Has the invoices been sent off? That also needs to occur. So for me as a business owner, that's incredibly important, because I can't pay my people and my bills if we've not billed accordingly. From a business owner perspective, that is important for me to go, this was a 10 out of 10 client appointment. Because we can do all the amazing work in the world, but if we don't get paid, we are going to have to close our doors and then we can't do any of it.

Then number three from a business perspective, is that the client confirms their next appointment. I don't know how you do it at your practice, but we generally have appointments pre-booked. It's not about the client booking another appointment, and if you are not pre-booking, well you need to address that. We always have at least four to six minimum appointments pre-booked for our clients. But I can have pre-booked appointments, but did I actually confirm as a client that I'm coming back? I want that process to be occurring at two levels. First in the clinician appointment, the clinician needs to have a conversation with a client to confirm, ‘Okay, am I seeing you next week? Am I seeing you in two weeks’ time? Because we've got an appointment booked in, but are you coming in?’ It's reaffirming that commitment. Has that occurred and has that also occurred again at the front desk? Because if you've got an in person clinic, your clinician should be walking the client out, handing them over to reception, even though you might do pre billing  like we do at our practice, and the client's already been billed, two days out from their appointment - even though you may already have that process in place with a client always has four to six appointments pre-booked - we are still handing over that client. 

Remember we are talking 10 out of 10 client session experiences here. We are handing them over for reception again ‘We are just confirming your next appointment. Will you be there?’ It's reaffirming commitment, because remember, you probably have a cancellation no-show late cancellation policy. We always want to make sure that the clients have got ample time to confirm or decline that they're coming or not. Have they considered what's happening in their life at that point in time? Is it school holidays and they've forgotten. What's happening at work? Are they actually traveling, and they've forgotten that that popped up yesterday. That is really important, getting that reconfirmation that they will be there at the next appointment. Because at the end of the day, if I, as a practice owner, were running after the client and going, ‘Hey, before you leave and walk out the front door, how many stars do you give us for today?’ I want them to go ‘Five stars’. And these are all the things that's going to lead to a client giving you five stars, even though you're not going to officially ask them that. But if you were to, you want to get five stars, not bronze, not silver - five gold stars. And I know we don't want to be perfectionists here, right. But we need to know what we are working towards, and we are not always going to get everything right always. I know that. I'm a recovering perfectionist. Most of us are.  But it's like there needs to be this ongoing endeavour to be better, to be chasing this 10 out of 10 client session. And when we are meeting these criteria, we should also be celebrating it. We should be celebrating that, yes, I'm achieving these things. Yes, we are delivering this - and this is what makes a great allied health business. 

So ask yourself, are you delivering this within your practice? Do you know whether these things are actually happening?  How do you know?  What do you need to do for you to know? How am I tracking this? How am I communicating this? What are the frameworks that I have back at the practice to allow this to occur? Because ultimately it is your job as the business owner to ensure that these things are happening.

Thank you so very much for tuning in. And as always, remember that I am here to help you build a practice you can't stop smiling about.  😊

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Gerda Muller

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