Data, facts and instruments on the German health system
What it’s all about
GPs and specialists often assess the quality of their practice management according to subjective criteria or indicators of patient satisfaction. But these benchmarks are far too general, unreliable and do not provide detailed, realistic information about the actual state of affairs. A performance feature of practice management benchmarking is the ability to form ratios and to visualise the entire practice management clearly at a glance. This makes it possible to make a quick and comprehensive assessment of strengths, weaknesses, threats as well as opportunities and to prospectively align the work with goals.
The status at a glance
The dashboard on the cover shows the practice management situation of an ophthalmology centre in an inner city location with five doctors and 24 medical assistants. At a glance, it reveals the two central problems of the business: while planning, market research, financial management, marketing, corporate identity and IGeL offerings are aligned with the best practice standard, leadership and organisation are not. The Best Practice Standard describes all instruments, regulations and behavioural patterns that are indispensable for a practice that functions smoothly even under changing pressures.
Effect relationships become clear
The consequences of the low implementation intensity in leadership and organisation are clearly expressed in the corresponding reaction parameters: people do not work together as a team but as a community of purpose, the staff work more against each other than with each other and are dissatisfied. One reason for this is the poor organisation of the company, which is at the same time aggravated by the negative working atmosphere, since the many internal conflicts are carried out among themselves by withholding information, among other things.
There is also no harmonious cooperation within the medical team itself, as there are no coordination routines. This not only leads to different assessments of the same issues, as the supplementary SWOT analysis shows, but also promotes the formation of groups within the staff.
The Consequence
This overall situation of a negatively directed preoccupation with oneself leads to too little commitment to patient care, because a community of purpose in the present constellation is primarily characterised by service according to the rules.
This setting is reflected in the financial results of the practice. Efficiency and productivity improvements through digital solutions are hardly used.
The approach shows the solutions
Overall, the analysis revealed an action plan with more than 150 approaches to address the misalignments of operations management and activate previously untapped reserves.
How the convenience approach works and what it achieves is described in detail in the publication: „Benchmarking practice management for GPs and specialists – method, application and benefits“. It is free of charge for GPs and specialists; the code needed for the free download can be requested by e-mail to post@ifabs.de, stating the practice address.
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