Data, facts and instruments on the German health system
What it’s all about
In today’s world, effectiveness and efficiency are important factors for a successful medical practice. While many established general practitioners and specialists often avoid these topics, the younger generation of physicians recognises their central importance for sustainable and patient-centred practice management. Effectiveness refers to the achievement of goals, while efficiency means that the goal is reached with as little effort as possible.
Telephone contacts promote inefficiency
There are many ways to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of a practice. For example, one ineffective method is when medical assistants have to take calls from patients to make appointments at the same time as taking patients. This ties up staff for administrative tasks and leads to a longer response time to calls, which can lead to important information being lost, among other things. A more effective alternative is to outsource the practice telephone to its own separate workstation. But to be truly efficient, it is advisable to introduce an online appointment booking system. This frees up staff and work capacity and ensures optimal appointment utilisation, leading to a sustainable improvement in the ratio of effort to results.
Orientation size Best Practice Standard
The practice management has the task of deciding which measures to implement in order to increase efficiency. In doing so, it should be guided by the requirements arising from the digital transformation, health policy realignments and changing patient behaviour. In order to find the appropriate design, it is recommended to benchmark the practice’s individual circumstances with the best practice standard of practice management. It describes all instruments, routines and behaviours that are necessary for smoothly functioning work.
An implementation rate of 60% or higher ensures effectiveness and efficiency. However, on average only half of the best practice standard is used in German medical practices.
This is shown by the figures of the IFABS Business Comparison Tracker© for GP, specialist and dental practice management on a representative basis.
Further information
Would you like to know how the benchmarking approach works and what advantages it offers? Then you should take a look at the publication “Benchmarking practice management for general practitioners and specialists – method, application and benefits”. It describes in detail how you as a GP or specialist can benefit from this approach.
R2049 