Improve Medical Group Performance

Interested in quickly improving the clinical and financial performance of your medical group or practice? It starts by building a more engaging, patient-focused culture in your organization.
That’s the key takeaway of a recently released report from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), which found that fostering a patient-centric culture was the most common business strategy among the nation’s top-performing medical groups and practices. The study was based on an analysis of more than 3,000 medical groups identified as high-performing in at least one of four categories: operations, productivity, profitability and value.
As this and similar studies have shown, when clinical practices proactively take steps to improve their operations, processes and patient interactions, patients are more efficiently served. This increases patient and staff satisfaction, heightens patient compliance and retention rates, and leads to improved patient outcomes. Truly, a win-win for all.
Charting Your Clinical Success
So why aren’t more medical groups taking steps to become increasingly patient-centric? Habit and overconfidence are two big reasons. Despite the fact that every other consumer-facing industry – from automotive and appliance manufacturers to retail and hospitality – has for years measured its success based on customer satisfaction, the health care industry has been slow to do likewise. Why? Because that’s the way things have been done for years in health care, and because there’s not been a compelling reason to change until now.
With pay-for-performance contracts now significantly affecting provider reimbursements, it makes sense for clinics and medical groups to make patients the focal point of care delivery and revenue cycle strategies. It doesn’t typically take a huge transformation to make a patient-centric culture a reality. Incremental gains are possible, as long as staff members are committed to improvements.
Incremental improvement was precisely the approach taken by the specialty clinic of a major health care system which had been experiencing multiple administrative performance issues. Patient calls to the clinic were going unanswered or dropped. Appointment scheduling was difficult and time-consuming. Clinicians were spending more time hearing about patient experience issues than addressing clinical needs. Changes needed to be made before patients began bolting for competitors. The steps this clinic took to improve its performance can be readily duplicated by any other medical group seeking similar gains.
Seven Steps to Better Patient Service
Based on the specialty clinic’s operational improvement efforts over several months, consider the following seven steps for your organization:
In Conclusion
As can be seen in the suggested steps above, creating a more patient-focused workplace does not mean having a “patient-is-always-right” culture. You wouldn’t automatically start handing out antibiotics at the door to any patient who requests them. It does mean, however, putting patients at the center of your workplace culture, getting staff member on board with any needed operational improvements to improve patient care, and working to ensure the type of patient experience that you would want for yourself or a loved one.
Link to Published Article (may require registration)
https://www.healthcarebusinesstoday.com/improve-the-clinical-financial-performance-of-your-medical-group-or-practice/