The five most common excuses used by GPs and specialists in Germany against changes in practice management

What it’s all about

Efficient and adaptable practice management is crucial for maintaining high standards of patient care and operational success. Despite this, many GPs and specialists in private practice are surprisingly resistant to change, even when there is clear evidence that their current systems are failing. Below are the five most common pretexts and excuses that practice owners use to avoid making necessary changes. Understanding the psychological motives behind these excuses is crucial to recognising the underlying resistance to change.

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Efficiency barriers in German medical practices: Personal initiative? No thanks!

What it’s all about

The results of practice management comparisons and the associated employee surveys in German general practitioner and specialist practices show: In many medical practices, the personal initiative of medical assistants is not welcomed and is even consistently discouraged. There are various reasons for this behaviour on the part of practice owners, including both practical and psychological aspects. This article highlights the most important reasons and outlines the consequences.

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Practice management insufficiency: Diagnosis and treatment of the number one outpatient systemic disease in German medical practices

What it’s all about

In the search for development opportunities and future prospects for outpatient healthcare, one central starting point and design parameter is usually ignored: practice management. But its quality is currently poor. This white paper describes why practice management is so important and what GPs and specialists can do about their insufficiency.

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LeadNeglection: If there was something similar to a driving licence for employee management, most doctors wouldn’t pass the test

What it’s all about

When reviewing the results from cross-sectional analyses of our studies as part of practice management benchmarking, I repeatedly notice outstanding individual aspects that are already symptomatic in the individual analyses, but whose implications for the healthcare system only really become clear in their aggregated totality. An example of this is the best practice implementation, or rather: non-implementation (“LeadNeglection”) in the practice management action area “Employee management”.

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German healthcare system: Why does the best practice standard often go unused?

What it’s all about

Practice management is the transmitter of the medical expertise of practice owners and the resources used in practice operations into patient care. The better the management works, the higher the quality of patient care. A validated, easy-to-implement guideline, the so-called best practice standard, exists for the adequate organisation of practice management. Yet these are only partially applied. This has a strong negative impact on the care of practice visitors, on the efficiency of the work, the motivation of the staff and ultimately also on the economic results of the practice.

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German general practitioners and specialists: Entrepreneurial Neglect Syndrome (ENS) and its effects

What it’s all about

Entrepreneurial Neglect Syndrome (ENS) refers to the neglect of entrepreneurial aspects in the management of medical practices. This behaviour has far-reaching consequences that affect not only practice management, but also patient care and the economic viability of the practice.

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The Futurised Practice-Check in German medical practices on the topic of “Leadership”

What it’s all about

The leadership skills of practice owners are of crucial importance for future-oriented GP and specialist practice management. It ensures that employees work together as “real” teams in a motivated, efficient, flexible and successful manner and can thus proactively respond to developments in the practice’s operating environment. But how future-oriented are the futurised practices (which represent a perspective expansion of the best practice standard) of GPs and specialists today? An evaluation of the results of practice management comparisons provides information.

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The underestimated barriers to digitalisation in German medical practices

What it’s all about

Digitalisation in the German healthcare system offers considerable potential for increasing the efficiency and quality of patient care. Nevertheless, the transformation is only progressing slowly, especially in medical practices. This is why there is an intensive debate on how the benefits of digital solutions for outpatient care can be quickly and systematically realised by GPs and specialists. The central starting point here is to overcome the scepticism and reluctance of practice owners by providing targeted information and concrete use cases. However, this attitude is only the tip of the iceberg. However, two fundamental problems remain largely unnoticed, which are an extreme obstacle to effective digitalisation: inadequate organisational and organisational structures and a lack of entrepreneurial skills and knowledge among doctors.

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Outpatient medicine in Germany: The medieval pillory in modern medical practices

What it’s all about

The results from the employee surveys of our practice management comparisons show that around 25% of German GP and specialist practices have a system that is reminiscent of the medieval pillory: practice owners publicly reprimand their employees in front of colleagues and patients when they make mistakes. The reasons for such open criticism may be factually justified, but the procedure is completely unsuitable as a disciplinary measure.

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The telephone imposition: Why doctors need to rethink

What it’s all about

At a time when digital innovations form the backbone of efficient business management, the German healthcare system, especially in medical practice communication, often falls short of its potential. A particularly pressing problem is the “telephone imposition” – a significant burden for both patients and practice staff, which manifests itself in endless queues and the expectation of callbacks.

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