Mastering the medical mindshift: Optimising practice management quality in doctor networks

Data, facts and instruments on the German health system

What it’s all about

The performance of doctors‘ networks for optimised patient care is largely determined by the practice management quality of the members. However, there are still significant performance reserves in this area. Two indicators help network managers to develop their cooperations accordingly.

Network performance depends on the practice management quality of the members

In terms of patient health care, practice networks pursue the goal of ensuring the highest possible medical quality through optimised care, cooperation and communication. However, it is not the mere fact of being a member of a network that contributes to overall high-quality patient care, but above all the regulations, instruments and behavioural patterns of practice management used in the individual establishments. The more these correspond to the best practice standard that ensures smooth practice operation, the better the transfer of medical competence and services into patient care. The degree to which this standard is implemented also determines the level of work motivation, patient satisfaction, efficiency, productivity and economic success at the individual practice level.

Network control with two indicators

The degree of implementation of the Best Practice Standard can be determined in medical practices with a simple, questionnaire-based procedure. From this, the key performance indicator „Best Practice Performance Score“ (BPS) is determined for each member. It provides network managers with two strategically relevant pieces of management information:

the – anonymised – distribution of the practice management performance scores of the individual member practices, from which the spread and direction of the distribution can be read, and
the network performance score determined from the individual results of the member practices, which characterises the practice management performance of the network as a whole and can be compared with the average value of networks in general.

In this way, the network management obtains an overview of previously unused opportunities for the practice management development of the network.

Clear need for action

Overall, in practice operations of physician networks – viewed across all speciality groups and practice forms or sizes – on average

only 59% of the regulations, behaviours and instruments necessary for smoothly functioning practice management are used,
the resulting patient satisfaction meets 67% (practices without network membership: 61%) of the requirements and wishes.

At the same time, the average gap between the member practice with the lowest best practice score and the one with the highest score is 47.3%. With the results of the analysis, each network member is enabled to identify and use the as yet unused opportunities of its practice management; on average, there are almost 40 starting points.

Perspective on development-opportunities

The anonymised performance data of the network members directly reveals the necessary practice management development needs for the network, which can be implemented in a targeted manner through corresponding offers. Among other things, the quality of the practice management action area „organisation“ has a decisive influence on the possible intensity of care and attention, but also on the cooperation with internal and external network partners. Likewise, the type of patient communication, another area of action, determines the degree of feasible adherence promotion and thus an essential part of medical success.