Follow the full path
Include the first inquiry, scheduling, arrival, diagnosis, treatment choices, completion, payment, and follow-up.
Project Compass Discipline 03 / 07
Map the patient journey.
Trace the patient experience from the first call through completed care, payment, recall, and referral.
See all seven disciplinesThe COMPASS sequence
What this letter means
Map the patient journey
The patient journey crosses many roles and workflows. Mapping it reveals where a patient waits, repeats information, misses a next step, or leaves without completing appropriate care. The map helps a practice improve handoffs and capacity while protecting trust and choice.
Put it into practice
Make the idea part of the work.
Use these moves to turn the discipline into an operating habit your team can see and repeat.
Mark handoffs and delays
Identify who owns each transition and where information or responsibility can be lost.
Improve one friction point
Choose a fix, name its owner, and watch the patient and operating measures that should change.
From the Practice by Design series
Follow the idea through the books.
Book 1 explores the phone call, schedule, treatment plan, revenue cycle, and hygiene as connected parts of patient flow. Book II addresses protecting that journey at scale, while Book III examines demand and the capacity to convert it.
Book 1 · Practice by Design
Chapters 5–9
Schedule · Phone · Treatment Completion · Revenue Cycle · Hygiene
Book II · From Practice to Enterprise
Chapters 15 & 16
Protect the Patient Journey at Scale · Turn Treatment Acceptance Into a System
Book III · Scaling to $100 Million and Beyond
Chapter 8
Build Demand That the Enterprise Can Actually Convert