Your ABA intake process needs to accomplish two objectives in order to ensure the continued success of your clinic.
First, the process must lay a foundation for clients to receive the best individualized treatment plan. This involves meeting with the child if possible, conducting interviews with his or her parents, observing parent/child interactions, and determining the client’s eligibility for treatment. It all goes into ensuring that the clinic-client relationship is as strong as possible and positive outcomes are achieved.
Secondly, your ABA intake process must net a positive ROI for your clinic. While meeting client needs comes first, your clinic still needs to be profitable in order to continue providing therapy to clients.
To ensure your intake process is returning value to your clinic, ask these four questions:
What is your conversion ratio from referral to client?
Ask other clinical directors in your network what their numbers are and benchmark your numbers against them. If you are converting at a below average rate, there is a good chance that something is amiss in your ABA intake process that’s causing clients to opt for other options. This leads to the next question…
Why are my referrals not turning into clients?
Keep track of why potential clients are choosing not to pursue a lasting relationship with your clinic. While it’s generally unnecessary to make drastic changes based off of feedback from one lost referral, if many non-conversions mention the same reason, it may be time to tweak your ABA intake methods.
How long does it take to analyze client insurance or authorization before commencing service?
The longer it takes to render service, the more time that will pass before you are able to collect payment. This leaves your clinic open to temporary shortfalls when it comes to paying bills and other operating expenses.
How much will you bill the client at the end of the diagnosed treatment?
It’s important to know how much each case is going to bring to your clinic. There will be times when your calculations are off, but keeping these instances to a minimum allows you to more accurately budget for future expenses while minimizing the possibility of an eventual budget shortfall.
Asking these four questions will help you create an ABA intake process that keeps your clinic well-capitalized. And if that’s taken care of, you’ll be able to provide top-notch ABA therapy services for a very long time.
Interested in improving your intake process? Request a free demo to see how Autism Clinic Software helps you do it.
