Practice Management
Practice management is an important concept that covers all operations of a physician’s practice outside of the operating room. Effective practice management ensures the physician is able to practice surgery in an environment that fits their needs persona
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Key Concepts • Lack of awareness about practice management could lead to poor career decisions, financial distress, and surgeon burnout. • If joining a hospital model, a surgeon may have benefits of a work RVU-based compensation, as well as the support and resources of the institution. However, the surgeon may need to align their personal goals to the goals of the institution and accept lack of autonomy for purchasing and decision-making. • In the private practice model, the physician is essentially self-employed, their goals and practice mission are basically aligned, and decisions are made real-time to meet the immediate needs of the practice. However, the financial state of the practice figures into decision-making and can limit the physician’s ability to realize their goals. • Revenue in the private practice model is based on professional fee collections and ancillary investments, while the hospital model generates revenue through professional fees, facility fees, downstream revenue, market share, and outcome incentive programs. • Effective marketing and networking are necessary to develop and maintain relationships with patients and referring physicians.
Introduction While solid medical knowledge and sound surgical skills are paramount for colorectal surgeons, practice management is an essential—and often overlooked—consideration for a successful career. Practice management is a broad term that covers all daily operations of a surgical practice, including the practice model, office operations, financial planning, patient interaction, personnel, technology, medical records, marketing and business development, coding, billing,
reimbursement, practice set up, and compensation. Most commonly, the principles of practice management are not considered at the start of one’s career, and many of the key concepts are not addressed in residency or fellowship. The subject of the “business of medicine” is often thought of as distasteful, and therefore not discussed among young surgeons. As a result, new surgeons may not be aware of many considerations and the implications of their decisions when accepting a job and joining a specific practice model. Patients are consumers, and consumers demand high quality care at a low cost to be satisfied. To meet these needs, physicians and practice administrators must think outside of the box when designing their practice model. They need to look to a model that is reliable, efficient, and effective at producing a high quality outcome and a happy customer. That ideal business may be a fast-food chain restaurant. Fast-food restaurants are a demanding, high-volume, customer-focused industry. Proper management in these chains has a system of consistent, reproducible products and customer satisfaction in place before the restaurant opens, and management continues to oversee the daily operations to ensure the systems meet pre-determined goals at every level. Regardless of the time of day, geographic location, or franchise specifics, they are a model of efficiency, reproducibility, standard
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