A Leadership Dashboard for Clinical Practice Success
Category: Physician Coaching Tips, Physicians Leading Transformation
by Francine R. Gaillour, MD, MBA, FACPE
If you are in practice—group, solo, concierge, transitional—what kind of “dashboard” do you use to monitor the “health” of you, your staff and your business? Consider that you are the #1 asset of the business, with your staff and your “operational systems” being a close second and third. Without all three assets working smoothly and at peak performance, your patients will not get the excellent clinical treatment and the red carpet service they deserve.
This month I am sharing an assessment that I often use with physicians in clinical practice to help them rate themselves along multiple aspects of “total practice health.” It’s a holistic approach to clinical practice management that takes into account YOU, as the CEO — “Chief Experience Officer” — of your own practice. My philosophy is that even if you are in a group practice, by and large it is YOU who has the capability and personal responsibility to create your own success as a clinical practice business owner.
Once you take the Assessment, ask your staff to also independently (and confidentially) rate each dimension.
Clinical Practice Performance Assessment™
Directions: For each Success Dimension, score its importance to you (1 = Low, 5 = High)
Then score how well you are performing in each Dimension (1 = Low, 5 = High)
Performance Dimensions:
- Patient Experience & Satisfaction: providing your patients with on-time service, education, follow-up, caring communication; regularly assessing and improving
- Referral Community Experience & Satisfaction: cultivating professional and collegial working relationships with referring physicians, consultants, hospitals
- Office Staff Development: providing office administrative and clinical staff opportunities for skills development and professional input into the practice development
- Information Technology: utilizing technology for scheduling, billing, submittal, medical record, clinic notes, email communication, Internet research and updates
- Disease Management & Safe Care: adhering to evidence-based guidelines and recommendations for appropriate and cost-effective clinical management
- Clinic Operations & Time -Value Management: assessing and optimizing patient flow, appointments, clinical staffing for best match of physician and patient time
- Overhead & Contract Management: regularly evaluating expenses and projected revenues against practice costs; negotiating value-based contracts
- Professional Development & Renewal: developing routines and a schedule for personal leadership skills development, education, self-reflection, physical fitness, family time, vacation
If your “Importance” Score added up to 32 or more, you have the right attitude about what it takes to create success.
If your “Importance” Score added up to 20 or less, you are probably missing a big opportunity to create more practice success through your untapped leadership potential!
If you would like to review your Assessment results with me or any of my coaching associates, I invite you to contact us to arrange a complimentary coaching session and we’ll see how you can develop your leadership abilities.