Benchmarks, metrics may be beneficial in measuring physician productivity
Patient expedition, use of real-time data and benchmark comparisons are among the ways orthopedic practices can monitor performance and drive productivity, according to a presenter at an American Alliance of Orthopaedic Executives webinar.
“Our physicians are looking at what they can do to get as many people in as possible,” Tara Holiky, MBA, an administrator at Greater Chesapeake Hand Specialists, said during the presentation. “It obviously helps that we are upper extremity only. We’re not having to exchange and that sort of thing, but I think it begins with that check-in, getting people in and back.”
At practices like Greater Chesapeake that do not staff nurses or medical assistants, patient efficiency is driven by the physicians, which is a part of practice culture, Holiky said.
“We are efficient in getting people in and out,” Holiky said. “Even with scheduling, we will overbook anybody scheduled to be seen. So if somebody calls [and] they need to be seen urgently, the physician will stay late and come and see them. I think that derives from our culture and what the practice has always been like.”
Another key to increased productivity is use of physician metrics to measure individual performance, as well as information on inpatient and outpatient surgeries and new and returning patient visits compared with their colleagues, Barbara Sack, MHSA, CMPE, executive director of Midwest Orthopaedics PA, said during the discussion.
“There is nothing that any surgeon sees another surgeon do that they cannot prove that they can do just as well, if not better,” Sack said. “It’s compelling to them to see if someone else has higher numbers than theirs,” which drives competition.
In addition to the evaluation of productivity among other in-house doctors, practices can use physician data to see how their production compares with established AAOE benchmarks, Holiky said.
“When we get that data annually, it is something that I share with the physicians, especially on productivity,” Holiky said. “One of the benefits I find using is that we can separate it out so that I’m looking at other hand practices because otherwise, even though we are all ortho, things can get skewed when you’re looking at a hand surgeon vs. someone who is doing hip and knees, or sports medicine, or something like that.”
Olivia J. Wolf, CPC, a practice administrator at Alaska Shoulder & Orthopaedic Institute and panel moderator, said being able to compare data with similarly suited practices is more beneficial in getting a gage on practice productivity.
“My practice is also purely upper extremity and so, it is nice to be able to break out those body areas in the benchmarking survey so it is more [of an] apples-to-apples [comparison] because docs go to conferences and they talk to each other and they come back with a number,” Wolf said. “My first question to them always is ‘What specialty was the person you were speaking to?’ Once you parse out those details, maybe what the impression they got, wasn’t entirely accurate.”
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