"After 20 years I was maintaining a fairly active solo private practice but not growing. I am familiar with a practice consulting firm in my area and had considered hiring them for advice in marketing. Shortly after, during a meeting with ALK-Abelló representatives they informed me of their service helping allergists start or build their practices. Since this program more closely met my perceived needs, I met with the ALK-Abelló practice management consultant to review my goals. Through these discussions I discovered there were many areas of my practice that could be improved in addition to marketing. The consultant encouraged me to continue my own personal style of practice while helping me implement measures designed to increase my productivity and develop more effective time and personnel management techniques. She spent time in my office observing my staff, patient flow and attitudes, billing system, office decorum, and a range of other aspects, then she discussed her observations with me privately, respectful of my time. Her insight and suggestions have led to improvements in multiple facets of my practice and are enabling me to obtain the growth I am seeking.
The consultant is effective because she took the time to learn about me and my goals and molded her creative ideas to fit with my personality and practice style. She is knowledgeable in all aspects of medical and allergy practice, is very personable, and used her considerable people skills to enhance the quality, efficiency and productivity of my staff, office, and me personally."
"In today's practice environment, it is no longer enough to have great clinical skills to assure your success; rather the physician must also be adept on the various practice management techniques. ALK-Abelló Consultation Services is a dependable and reputable ally in navigating through the complexities of starting a practice."
Brigida Hunter, MD
"It is my great pleasure to relate some of my experiences with ALK-Abelló practice management and consulting services.
I first met several of the ALK-Abelló representatives during one of the College meetings. When I mentioned I was setting up my own office, I was introduced to the ALK-Abelló practice management consultant, who gave me an overview of the various consulting services offered through the company.
As soon as I returned from the meeting, this introduction was followed up by the consultant with a phone call and concrete, to-the-point email proposals for building and setting up my practice. I liked the manner in which she approached me, and decided to go with ALK-Abello's consulting services.
Within a short span of time, the consultant focused on thoroughly understanding my philosophy and vision for my practice. Within that framework, she created a systematic course of action and time line for us to work on. She made several in-house visits, armed with invaluable sources of printed and verbal information. It appeared to me that during those visits she was always focused on staying in line with my vision for my practice, rather than offering a cookie-cutter approach.
I can truly say that during the first four months of my practice set-up and office built-out, the consultant was not only my practice management consultant, but also my number one supporter, friend, and therapist. She was an incredible resource for just about anything you could imagine to set up an office from scratch; from ordering office and medical supplies to evaluating electronic medical record systems, or from training me how to interview and hire staff to how to deal with difficult situations. She was always available for me to contact her. Nothing was too large or too small for her. She always approached me with encouragement, honesty and dignity. Her loyalty to the whole process and her enthusiasm for materializing my dream, have left a lasting impression on me."
Muni Tahzib, MD
"ALK-Abelló's Consultation Services were instrumental in helping me set up my practice. From training my nurse who had no previous experience in allergy practice to helping me with coding principles, the Consultation Services were indispensable. Furthermore, even after they initially consulted, they have been easily accessible and always willing to help whenever I have asked for guidance."
Rachel Schreiber, MD
"I am writing to express my appreciation of ALK-Abelló's support services. We have met with your practice management consultant several times at national conferences as well as in our own office. As I look back, she helped Dr. Chris Schafer and me shift our focus from day-to-day patient care to broaden our knowledge of the business aspect of a successful allergy practice. At one of our initial encounters, she introduced us to the concept of a vision for our practice, which we subsequently shared with our staff. She also recommended that we think in a time-line, looking at goals for both the short and long term.
Her experience and knowledge regarding other allergy practices in terms of management ideas, flow of allergy injection areas, etc., was useful at a time when we were remodeling our office. She consistently has an enthusiastic, upbeat manner, helping us to focus on new ideas and communicating what has been effective in other offices.
We have added a third physician to our practice and are attempting to formulate a plan to expand our patient base. The ideas brought to the table have been nicely tempered by your consultant with a note of caution to make sure they are staying within our vision for this practice.
I look forward to future meeting with your consultant as we anticipate moving toward computerized medical records. I also appreciate ALK-Abelló's scientific involvement and help in the clinical allergy world, updating our knowledge concerning allergy extracts and immunotherapy regimes."
Karyn E. Gell, MD