How the Three-File System Works to Save You Time and Simplify Your Life

Paper.

It's everywhere. And unless you have a simple system for "processing" it, it can overrun your office, kitchen, and home.

Before I discovered the three-file system, I had all kinds of files... maybe twenty or thirty of them, all with a different label.

Every month, I'd go through all the mail and bills and file the statements. Every piece of paper went into a separate file. Which meant I was touching dozens of files every month. Filing paperwork took way too much time, and I didn't like it.

Enter the three-file system. I can't remember where or when I heard about it. But I finally got so desperate (my study was beginning to look like a storage archive minus the filing boxes), I decided to give it a try.

Here's how to set up your three-file system.

1. Get three hanging file folders and put them in your filing cabinet.
2. Label the first one "File #1"
3. Label the second one "File #2"
4. Label the third one "File #3"
5. Get a small mail organizer and place it where you open the mail.

Okay, when you've completed each of these steps, you're ready to begin using the system. Here's how it works...

Whenever you get the mail, adopt a one-touch policy. Either throw it away, shred it, or file it in your mail center. (I put statements in the large slot of the mail center and place payment slips with their envelopes into the small slot. I organize the bills according to when they must be paid.)

Now, do this for the entire month. When the month is over, take all the statements and file them in Folder #1.

During the second month, you will open and process the mail the same way. Then, at the end of the month, you will take all the statements and place them in File #1. All the paperwork already in File #1 gets moved to File #2.

During the third month, repeat the process. At the end of the month, all the paperwork in File #2 goes to File #3. File #1 goes to File #2. And all the paperwork in the mail center goes in File #1.

Got it?

During the fourth month, repeat the process again. Except this time, the paperwork in File #3 goes to the shredder. Or at least most of it. If there's something you must save for tax records or for a longer period of time, simply create a folder to store the "exceptions."

Here's what the three-folder system does. It simplifies your life and saves you boatloads of time. Instead of touching dozens of files every month, you only touch one or two. There's no separating or sorting. Five minutes and you're done.

I've been using the three-file system for about half a year now and I wonder... why didn't I do this sooner? Paperwork is a breeze now. The paper beast has been tamed.

Your action item: Go set up your three-file system now and begin using it immediately. It'll be one of the best organizational improvements you make all year.

Click Here to Visit Ryan's Blog

Hacking through the Medical Scheduling Software Jungle: Helpful Search Tips to Finding a Buried Treasure

It is the reality of the 21st century medical practice that in order to ensure the most effective office management and to provide the best service to patients, a medical office must incorporate medical scheduling software. Medical scheduling software helps to run the modern medical practice. But, to find the right medical scheduling software is like searching for buried treasure.

The market is aware of the great need for the best medical scheduling software. Millions of companies vie for the attention of medical practices and medical service providers. Just take a gander at the big three search engines to see what I mean. Under the search term medical scheduling software, MSN returns 163,575 indexed pages; Google returns 1,520,000 indexed pages; and Yahoo returns an astounding 4,320,000. To top it off, many of these indexed pages are themselves indexes, advertising hundreds, maybe even thousands more medical scheduling software packages.

Backed with a well-founded doubt that any medical practice or medical service provider wants to search 160,000; 1 million; or 4 million indexed pages full of medical billing software packages, this article provides helpful treasure map to help you as you are hacking your way through the medical scheduling software jungle to find the medical scheduling software that meets your business needs. Use these helpful tips to sift through the millions of pages indexed under medical scheduling software.

Medical Scheduling Software Characteristics

First, let me introduce you to some of the typical benefits most medical scheduling software packages offer.
-Color-coded scheduling
-Reminder notices
-HIPAA compliance
-Multiple viewing options

The purpose of this article is not to point out what medical scheduling software packages have in common, but what sets a package apart from the rest.

Multiple Office Management

Many medical scheduling software packages are very effective in their ability to organize appointments and client information into one manageable screen. Many practices and medical service providers, however, manage multiple offices and multiple locations, necessitating medical scheduling software which enables a practice to track multiple offices at once.

Quick Search

This is the information age. In additions to multiple offices, practices and service providers need to be able to quickly sort through all of the information. Available times and patient information need to be at your fingertips. Medical billing software with quick searching functions enables offices to quickly and effectively manage multiple databases worth of information.

Simple

In addition to being an information age where technology increases in its complication, medical scheduling software packages are a breath of fresh air. Most packages are user-friendly, for the most part. To distinguish between them, one must remember how much information needs to be stored and how quickly it needs to be managed. Setting up appointments with a 2- or 3-step process never seemed too complicated until trying to manage so much information so quickly. In finding medical scheduling software with a 1-step process, an office really has found a buried treasure. Entering patient information onto one page is a simple set up which enable speed and efficiency.

While searching the medical scheduling software jungle, use these tips to guide you to where the treasure is found. Speed, efficiency, simplicity, and management are qualities that not only set some medical scheduling software packages apart from others, but medical scheduling software like that will help propel your practice to the front of the pack as well.

Joe Miller is specialist in online advertising. For more information on medical scheduling software, please visit AdvancedMD.com .