Data, facts and instruments on the German health system
What it is about
The actions of many physicians in private practice are shaped by misguided beliefs that prevent deficits and risk factors that hinder work from being eliminated. One example is the mindset about “efficiency”.
The Mindset…
By efficiency, most practising physicians understand the practice management approach of achieving the maximum possible result with the available resources.
…and its correction
But in fact it is about achieving practice goals with the least possible effort. This means that the focus is not on maximisation, but on the balance between a labour input that is effective and economically optimal on the one hand, and the qualitative and quantitative goals defined by the practice owner on the other. Efficiency is thus an adaptive variable that each practice owner defines individually on the results side.
The path to efficient practice work
Efficiency in patient care arises automatically as soon as the Best Practice Standard is implemented in medical practices. It describes all the regulations, instruments and behavioural patterns that are essential for work to function smoothly even under changing demands.
The problem in outpatient medicine is that general practitioners and specialists on average only take half of this standard into account in their work. The consequences are the problems that can be felt in everyday practice.
Thus, a vital practice management insufficiency results from a misinterpretation of the term.
The way to achieve efficiency in this context is to carry out practice management benchmarking. With its help, the practice management status of a company is compared with the best practice standard. The result of the analysis identifies the existing misalignments and, at the same time, all measures that are necessary to eliminate them and to achieve efficient work.
How the convenience approach works and what it achieves is described in detail in the publication: “Benchmarking practice management for general practitioners 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.
R2049 