What it’s all about
In stark contrast to their patients, doctors are content to identify the symptoms of practice problems instead of looking for the root causes. As a result, even in businesses whose owners are convinced that the work is running smoothly, a deep dive in the form of practice management benchmarking can identify an average of forty unactivated opportunities for improvement.
Deep dive with the benchmarking technique
Doing a deep dive means looking at a topic with particular detail to learn as much as possible about it in a short time. Benchmarking practice management is such a “deep dive” into practice management with the aim of optimisation. It
- creates a performance status of the practice management, from planning to organisation, leadership, marketing, patient care and cooperation to controlling, and
- compares this with the best practice standard and the average value of the specialist group.
The best practice standard describes all regulations, instruments and behaviours that are indispensable for a smoothly functioning practice, even under changing requirements. The comparison of the practice status and the standard makes it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of one’s own practice and to recognise potential for improvement. The comparison with the professional group provides a complementary orientation of one’s own situation.
Deep dive as a path to practice management excellence
Benchmarking offers a comprehensive assessment of practice management and provides practice teams with valuable information to make effective strategic decisions and work efficiently. By analysing the results, improvements can be made in a number of areas, such as optimising processes, improving patient satisfaction, increasing profitability or identifying development opportunities for teamwork. Overall, the procedure can be seen as an intensive and holistic insight into practice management, providing detailed information on all aspects of practice management and concrete recommendations for action.
Further information
GPs and specialists who would like to know how this approach works, incidentally without the need for an on-site consultant, with little work and expense, and what benefits it offers, will find all the information they need in the publication “Benchmarking practice management for GPs and specialists – method, application and benefits”, to be ordered by e-mail to the address post@ifabs.de.
R2049 