Data, facts and instruments on the German health system
What it’s all about
When it comes to the medical care of patients in medical practices, the focus is on precision. Here, measurements are carefully recorded and analysed to ensure the most accurate diagnosis and treatment possible. But when it comes to assessing the quality of practice management, assumptions and gut feelings dominate. This leads to glaringly wrong decisions, which could be avoided if practice owners used the laboratory values of their practice management.
The dominance of measurements in medical care
Medical care is based on evidence-based medicine and is supported by a variety of measured values. From blood pressure and cholesterol levels to lab results and imaging, these data play a critical role in diagnosing and monitoring disease. The precision of these measurements is essential to making appropriate treatment decisions and achieving optimal outcomes for patients.
The role of guesswork and gut feeling in practice management.
In contrast, the assessment of the quality of practice management is based on subjective assessments, assumptions and doctors’ gut feelings. Factors such as waiting times, patient satisfaction, communication, efficiency or productivity in the practice process are often not systematically recorded and quantified. Doctors mostly rely on their experience and intuition.
The need for practice management benchmarking
Given the importance of a well-functioning practice for patient care, but also for internal cooperation within the practice, it is essential that doctors base their practice management on objective measurements. This is where practice management benchmarking comes into play. It enables doctors to measure their practice management, from planning to leadership, organisation, marketing and patient management to controlling, to compare it with the best practice standard of practice management and practices of the same specialist group. From the comparison, the strengths and weaknesses of the practices can be identified, as well as any previously unused opportunities for improvement.
The advantages of practice management benchmarking
Objective view
The Best Practice Standard describes all regulations, instruments and behaviours that are indispensable for smoothly functioning work even under changing requirements. The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that can be derived from them are objective measures that quantify the performance of a practice. This enables an informed assessment of practice management and identifies potential areas for improvement.
A figure shows how important this function is: in German medical practices, on average, almost half of the best practice standard is not used. The value makes clear the immense potential for improvement that exists in outpatient medicine.
Increasing efficiency
By benchmarking and visualising the KPIs in a dashboard, doctors can identify misalignments in their practice management at a glance and take action to eliminate them. This leads to a better use of resources, a reduction in time spent and an increase in patient satisfaction and practice results. In addition, the smooth functionality of practice operations is the central prerequisite for integrating digital solutions into everyday practice.
Transparency and trust
Benchmarking creates transparency, both within the practice and towards patients. The use of objective measurement values and the continuous improvement of practice management based on them strengthen the trust of patients and lead to a positive reputation of the practice.
Free publication on the topic
Practice owners who are interested in how the convenience approach works and what benefits it offers can download the free publication “Benchmarking practice management for general practitioners and specialists – method, application and benefits”. It can be ordered by e-mail to the address post@ifabs.de.
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