Angewandte Betriebswirtschaftslehre im Gesundheitswesen / Initiative „Mastering the medical mindshift“
Data, facts and instruments on the German health system
In order to optimise their time management, general practitioners and specialists must also take into account visits from pharmaceutical representatives.
Weiterlesen „Medical time management: The disruptive factor of pharmaceutical visits“
Jeder Arzt und jede Medizinische Fachangestellte kennt die kleinen Negativ-Ereignisse, die in größerem oder kleinerem Umfang den Praxisalltag durchziehen. Oft hängen sie mit Patienten zusammen, die dann als „schwierig“ bezeichnet werden und mit denen dieser Makel für immer verbunden ist. Doch die Bewertung erfolgt häufig vorschnell und das eigentliche Problem liegt auf einer ganz anderen Ebene. Sich dessen bewußt zu sein und gegenzusteuern kann die Arbeitsqualität entscheidend verbessern.
Data, facts and instruments on the German health system
Many established practice owners are convinced that, due to their size, they do not need any special leadership measures, since the interaction of the staff results natively from the tasks to be done and the staff already know how to help themselves when problems and questions arise. A serious mistake.
Weiterlesen „Mastering the medical mindshift: Why leadership is so important“
Haus- und Fachärzten, die in einer persönlichen Zeitverwendungs-Analyse für einen bestimmten Zeitraum alle ihre Tätigkeiten systematisch dokumentieren und analysieren, profitieren immer von einem deutlichen Zeitgewinn.
Weiterlesen „Ärztliches Zeitmanagement: Jeder profitiert von einem Time-Tracking“
Data, facts and instruments on the German health system
Excessive waiting times, uncoordinated procedures, poor telephone accessibility, hectic consultations with doctors – deficits in practice organisation are the number one point of criticism when patients are asked about their satisfaction with medical practices. are asked. Doctors and staff are also negatively affected. About 2/3 of the problems identified in practice analyses come from the area of organisational design. Doctors and their staff also suffer from this stress, anger and demotivation are the consequences of unresolved organisational deficits.
Poor practice organisation also has serious economic consequences. On average, for example, labour productivity in general practices is 28% lower than it could be with optimised organisation. This means that with an assumed monthly salary of the staff of € 5,000, an amount of € 1,400 is used for unproductive work. Added up over the year, this results in a „bad investment“ of € 16,800. Added to this are the lost profits for the patients who could not be treated due to the poorly adjusted practice organisation as well as for patients who – deterred by the inadequate organisation – change the practice. The costs for guaranteeing the operation of the practice (electricity, water, rent) during the unproductive phases must also be added.
An optimisation of the practice organisation thus supports essential areas of action of the practice management: it
Thus, an optimally functioning organisation offers the prerequisite for the best possible medical care, in which every patient can receive the treatment he or she needs on an economically solid foundation.
But with such a multitude of advantages, why do so few doctors bother to improve the organisational conditions in their practices? Three reasons are responsible for this, two of which lie in the area of management responsibility of the practice owners:
In most medical practices, there is a „two-worlds phenomenon“: doctor/physicians and staff operate in completely different areas that are connected to each other by interfaces. In their „inner world“ of the consultation and treatment rooms, most doctors do not notice the problems of the „outer world of the practice“ at the reception, in the waiting room or in the corridors. As long as no problems are brought to their attention (for which there are often no communication routines), they assume that the practice world as a whole is fine.
The practice staff experience organisational problems directly. They could therefore contribute significantly to improving the organisational conditions of their practice. But: their opinion is not asked. Only in very few medical practices – according to the complaint of many medical assistants – are organisational improvements regularly discussed in the team. Otherwise, the bosses play it cool and leave the practice unchanged.
If practice owners recognise the need for and opportunities of organisational change, they face the problem that organisational analyses – if they are bought in externally – are expensive and time-consuming. The prices for professional implementation start at about € 1,500, and the price scale is open upwards. However, most people shy away from this.
The first step is to talk to the practice team. Experience has shown that every member of staff knows areas, situations and work where procedures are not working properly and perhaps already knows a solution. About 70% of all organisational problems could be solved by implementing the knowledge of the medical assistants. It is best to dedicate a complete team meeting to organisational improvement, in which all approaches are collected and summarised in a realignment plan. Thereafter, the discussion of the organisation should be an integral part of every practice meeting in order to ensure continuous development.
If, contrary to expectations, the practice is still not running smoothly after the measures described above, it is a good idea to carry out a simple work analysis. With its help, the organisational structure and workflow, the ordering system and the doctors‘ time management can be checked and synchronised with the patient structure. The implementation is done with the help of a patient run sheet on which all work is documented for the duration of a week according to type, duration and person responsible/performer. By combining all the data, a multi-dimensional image of the practice’s work processes is created. This shows, among other things, what happens in the practice during patient consultations, to what extent and with what consequences unannounced patients influence the processes, which tasks the staff carry out with what workload (basis for personnel planning), whether the work processes are optimally coordinated or how the patients‘ length of stay is composed. It is advisable to carry out such an examination once a year in order to increase the efficiency of the work flow in this way, because experience shows that behaviour and regulations creep in again and again that inhibit the work flow without it being registered by those involved.
With regard to the ordering system, practices with a strict appointment system have clear advantages compared to practices with other organisational principles (e.g. semi-open consultation hours):
General practitioners and specialists who would like to examine their organisation as well as their personnel management, but also all other areas of practice work, can use the Practice Management Comparison© for this purpose. The validated examination, which can be carried out without the need for an on-site consultant, requires only thirty minutes of medical working time and identifies an average of forty suggestions for improving practice work. All the information is available in a free briefing paper.
Im Vergleich benötigt die Erstellung einer elektronischen Arbeitsunfähigkeits-Bescheinigung (eAU) 50 Sekunden mehr Zeit als die Abwicklung über den „klassischen Weg“. Haus- und Fachärzte erachten diesen organisatorischen Mehraufwand als deutliches Hemmnis für ihre Produktivität. Doch das eigentliche Problem ganz woanders liegt in einem anderen Bereich.
Weiterlesen „Organisation in der Arztpraxis: 50 Sekunden sind nicht das Problem“
Data, facts and instruments on the German health system
Physicians in private practice have a distant to negative relationship to the term „business management“. Ignorance and prejudice are mainly responsible for this. But this attitude means that important tools that can acutely improve patient care, ensure the flexibility needed for transformation in the medium term and secure the success of the practice in the long term are not used.
Arbeitsdruck, Stress und Demotivation: in vielen Haus- und Facharzt-Praxen sind diese Empfindungen tägliche Routine. Doch das muss nicht sein.
Data, facts and instruments on the German health system
„Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.“ (Helen Keller)
No term is used more frequently in the external presentation of medical practices, e.g. on websites, than the term „team“. But reality shows that in most practices there is no team-based cooperation at all. This has far-reaching negative effects on efficiency, productivity and quality of outcomes.
Weiterlesen „Strategic practice management: Teamwork – The underestimated success factor“
Die Anforderungen, die Patienten an die physiotherapeutische Versorgung stellen, haben sich in den letzten Jahren deutlich verändert. Das lässt sich u. a. daran festmachen, dass Praxisbesucher heute – anders als noch vor wenigen Jahren – im Zusammenhang mit Physiotherapie-Praxen von „Ambiente“, „Bedienung“, „Service“ und „Kundenfreundlichkeit“ sprechen. Ebenso nehmen die Wünsche nach Digital-Angeboten wie z. B. Online-Terminvereinbarungen zu.
UP: Unlocking Potentials 