Private practice remains a vital part of Australia’s health care system. There are hundreds of practices across Victoria serving their patients and their communities,
All practices are small to medium sized businesses providing medical services. Just because the function of the business is community-oriented does not mean that the business side should be neglected. All businesses, be they cut throat financial giants, or the smallest charitable organisation, must be focussed on running the business successfully.
A successful business model can free up time and space to improve services, improve profitability, or allow the principles to spend more time away from the practice. Successful businesses allow their managers choices.
In these articles focussing on successful private practice, AMA Victoria experts provide tips and advice on running the business to improve the bottom line and improve the services you provide your patients.
Leadership
The practice leaders are vital to success. A practice leader sets the direction of the practice, provides a role model, and motivates staff and patients.
The vision of the practice must be communicated to the full team, and then the team must be motivated to drive the practice forward towards the vision. Is your practice working as a team or one where staff feel de-motivated? Get this ingredient right in your business, and the practice will be on the right track
Good leaders may or may not be good managers. A good leader will recognise where they need the assistance of experts.
Culture
Organisational culture — the way things are done in an organisation — is a vital ingredient in understanding how an organisation functions. An effective organisational culture will help meet the organisation’s objectives, while a poor, ineffective or unresponsive culture can harm an organisation’s prospects.
Consider the culture in your practice. What do you and your staff believe to be the practice’s purpose?
What can patients see? Buildings, parking, fit out and layout are all signals to your patients of your values. Ensuring the physical aspects of your practice match your aspirations for the practice is very important.
Does the culture drive best patient care and good business practices? Are your values expressed effectively to your patients?
Management
The success of a practice is a function of the way it is managed.
The issues and problems will vary from practice to practice and principal to principal but by creating and implementing robust systems and monitoring your practice you can ensure a successful practice going forward.
There are many aspects to management. Some of the most important aspects include people management, process management and training and education.
People
It’s often said that people are a business’s greatest asset.
The right people are your biggest asset. Good staff can be a boon to any business, but are vitally important in a medical practice.
Doctors’ values should be mirrored in the values of the staff. Without this alignment, your staff may be doing more harm than good.
The biggest problems in a practice are often caused by employing the wrong person. A staff member who struggles to fulfil the requirements in a position can be a drain on the practice. Staff must have the skill and knowledge to fulfil their job description.
Consider the real costs of recruitment. In a tight market everyone is looking at ways to reduce costs. Recruiting yourself may appear to be cost effective on the surface but consider the consequences of getting it wrong. Consider the time this process takes and whether you have the necessary skills and time to adequately devote to finding the best applicant for the job. What will you need to delay or not do because you are busy writing advertisements, reading numerous applications, shortlisting, interviewing and chasing referees.
In a small business such as a medical practice, a bad recruitment decision can be very costly. Irritated patients, hidden bombs left in the financials, and other horror stories abound from a poor recruitment decision. Small businesses that end up with bad staff can pay the price for months or years — often longer than the staff member worked there.
People are recruited for their skills and experience and fired for their attitude or motivation. Assessing skills and experience accurately can be harder than it looks, particularly if you don’t recruit all that often. Working out if a person will fit into the particular culture of a medical practice requires some real skill and experience
Before considering whether to undergo a recruitment process yourself or seek expert help, make sure you do a proper risk assessment. A small to medium sized business must be very confident in their ability to accurately assess resumes, select the right candidates for interviews, and know what questions to ask for the risk in hiring yourself to be worth taking.
Process management
Business processes can make the difference between a profitable business where everyone works extra hours to make sure everything is done, and a profitable business where those extra hours are spent seeing patients or seeing your family.
There are a number of process management improvements that be made in any business. Good use of IT, a better filing system, or patient notification systems are examples of business improvements that can be made at little cost for decent reward.
Again, the use of experts should be considered. There is no need to reinvent the wheel when there are people who are prepared to work with you to understand your business and what you need. Medical practices are specialised businesses, and a cookie-cutter approach is unlikely to be appropriate.
Training and education
There is only one thing worse than giving a person training and then they leave the business — not giving a person training and them staying.
Just as doctors must do continuing medical education, all staff need training and ongoing development. Training and ongoing professional development ensures staff are up to date in management tasks and delivering care to patients.
Training and professional developments also promotes employee satisfaction. Staff who feel they are learning and growing in a position are much less likely to be looking at other opportunities. Most people would prefer to have fun at work than have a soul-destroying job that pays better, and training is a key way of making a position more interesting.
Training should be specifically designed to meet the needs of the learners as well as the workplace requirements. Again, medical practice is different, so training designed for medical practices is important.
All businesses need to invest, and training should be considered an important investment. Up to date training and professional development in private practice will contribute to delivering a high level of client satisfaction and promote business development.
Phone our Katrina on (03) 9348 1111 and find out how we can be of assistance to you.
