Medical group management journal最新文献

Delivering satisfaction to patients has become increasingly important among professionals in the medical community. However, administrators in medical group practices charged with the task of nurturing customer satisfaction are often required to allocate their limited funds across an array of initiatives intended to ensure the delivery of the right amount and types of services to improve satisfaction among their customers. This requires the ability to locate areas that yield the greatest response per unit of investment. This paper shows that the impact of attribute performance on satisfaction is asymmetric. Positive attribute performance is shown to have a smaller impact on satisfaction than negative attribute performance. The paper also discusses how an understanding of this asymmetry will enable administrators to allocate their resources more wisely as they decide whether to maintain or increase attribute-level performance.

Meeting compliance requirements to report information such as provider satisfaction typically inspires groans, followed by hasty actions by those who must collect and supply the information. Reports often reflect this lack of interest as findings are rarely defended as representative. Our medical group employed statistical methodology to make this process meaningful while also keeping it fairly simple and without incurring added costs. By establishing our provider satisfaction survey as a scientifically based endeavor, we improved the likelihood the provider would actively and honestly participate, and report findings with confidence.

Physician group practice management teams (physician-administrator teams) have had to become creative in developing efficient and effective practice operations as a result of managed care. For physicians that must use entities outside of the group to deliver care, these physicians must demand that these facilities provide a program that adheres to the principles of "operationally effective and efficient design (OEED)." Programs that comply with the six principles of OEED offer physicians the opportunity to maximize their monetary value of time. Programs that do not follow the OEED principles negatively impact the physicians' monetary value of time. As a result, physician-administrator teams must demand operations improvement from such entities, otherwise alternatives will be sought. Therefore, managed care may not be bad news for physicians.

Robert A. Nelson, FACMPE, the new president of the American College of Medical Practice Executives (ACMPE) and a principal with the Canon Group, Santa Barbara, Calif., took time to share his vision of the ACMPE and the state of group practice with the MGM Journal. A past president of MGMA. Nelson was honored in 1999 with the ACMPE's Harry J. Harwick Award--the College's highest recognition for health care executives.

This paper reviews briefly the history of managed care, and then analyzes the economic rationale underlying the present dynamics of the marketplace. With this background, the paper postulates what the ultimate delivery system should be: the virtual clinic. It includes a proposed micro-model that could evolve into a macro-institution driven by the two essential elements of the market: equity and efficiency.

The strict enforcement of laws governing Medicare fraud and abuse has led to the need for every hospital and other health care facility to develop a compliance program and to update that program periodically. Understanding the history of such enforcement, the regulations involved and the developments on the horizon are vital to avoid huge fines and other severe penalties. Compliance with federal and state regulations will not only avoid such fines and penalties but also will result in a more efficient health care facility.

While some physicians aggressively seek opportunities to build lucrative business ventures, others resist the intrusion of business issues and risks into their practices. A key to success is ensuring a good fit between an organization's business model and its physician's professional values and business dispositions. This article describes how to assess physicians' readiness for business risk, and it provides a framework for evaluating different business models in light of the professional values and business risk profiles of the organization's physicians. Finally the article provides a roadmap for actions to close gaps between the demands of the business model and the business dispositions of its physicians.

What went wrong when you provided the best medical care, but the patient left and never came back? By not asking a key question to each patient you may be passing up the best opportunity to satisfy and retain your patients. A restaurant experience reveals how to determine simply and effectively for every patient if you are really meeting the patient's needs. This is cost-effective, patient-focused service at its best--right to the bottom line.