Follow these four methods for both general and specialist practices:
1) Benchmark Yourself
Many practices use internal KPIs to measure practice performance. While this is of value, there are some limitations with only using this approach. The use of internal KPIs means that you are effectively measuring your performance against yourself. It doesn’t really help you assess how you’re travelling against best-practice. Benchmarking is the process of looking at your own performance relative to that of your colleagues/competition/peers.
2) Assess Productive Capacity
Understanding your practice capacity is one of the key steps in assessing the ability of your practice to increase its financial performance. Assessing your practice capacity will tell you how effectively you are using your resources. You start by determining total capacity (available rooms and operating hours) and then comparing that to the actual rooms usage by your doctors, to give you your rooms utilisation rate. This can help you identify your maximum earnings capacity for the practice and what strategies you can implement to help drive financial improvements.
3) Understand FTE Efficiencies
When assessing your practice performance, it is helpful to understand Full Time Equivalent (“FTE”) ratios, and what you can learn from them. You can quickly tell if your practice has additional revenue generating capacity by comparing the number of consult rooms available per doctor. Other key statistics include the comparison of FTE Nurses and Administration staff to the number of FTE Doctors. Using FTE as the basis for analysis helps provide a better assessment.
4) Expand Your Service Platform
Expanding your practices service platform can be a major contributor to increasing the number of return patient visits. The most successful practices have their eyes open to complimentary services, often combining spare capacity with the provision of these additional services. Practice with low rooms utilisation rates, have the ability to engage with various allied health professionals that can provide complimentary services because they have the rooms space to do so.
To discuss your practice productivity and profitability, contact Cutcher & Neale on 1800 988 522.
