Physicians as Practice Administrators

Assignment 1: Physicians as Practice Administrators

HAS 546: Physician’s Practice Management

Physicians practices are practiced everywhere in the world today where healthcare is being provided. Different places adopt different practices which are suitable to them. Suitability is normally based on satisfaction of customer needs and wants. There are various forms of medical group practices that can be put into use today. These practices should be chosen and adopted on account that they meet one’s career goals or personal preferences in the field of healthcare. This should mean that the practices will vary from place to place because of the fact that every individual has his or her preference.

Solo practice is one of the practices that can be adopted just like its name, individuals under these practices operate on their own without being attached to a specific healthcare institution. In this practice, the patient and stuff base is normally low. You could find two or three individuals in charge of a healthcare facility. This means, the physicians could easily build a better a close and personal relationship with the patients and other stuff members located at these medical facilities. Making decisions under solo practice is easier since the number of individuals involved is limited. However, solo practices have setbacks which might include significant financial risk due to the costs of doing business.

The other form of medical practice is group practice. It is generally divided into single-specialty and multispecialty practices. In single specialty, patients are given a specific kind of care while in latter patients can receive various forms of medical treatments within the same healthcare institution. Group practices are normally characterized with better financial security and controlling of lifestyle in this model is very easy and effective.

Many healthcare organizations have either the solo practice or group practices purchased. This has however not limited the chance of having the Employed Physicians Practices. In this practice, healthcare institutions normally hire medics to work in a specific organ of their healthcare institution. The advantage of this is that the individual hired does not feel the burden that is administrative in nature; that is normally left to the hiring authority. This kind of practice might have draw back that touch on productivity, the healthcare institution might actually set higher level of productivity that cannot be achieved by that individual.

Newly signed physicians might actually opt for the employed physicians practice because of the nature of ease of operations. Incentives and levels of compensation are guaranteed in this kind of practice. This means that the individuals will have fewer things to worry about in their line of duty. Individuals are however free to select from the many kind of options that exist in the medical group practices. The role of physicians has changed greatly over a number of years. Back twenty years, the main aim of physicians was to ensure that they treat and satisfy patient illness. That has since not changed but something has been added to the list, physicians not only treat patients but ensure that they give quality of services and in the right manner.

The role of physicians has greatly changed. Today, physicians do physical examinations besides determining the possible diagnosis for the condition ranging from the acute to the chronic ones. The physicians also provide a continuous care for their patient unlike in those times when the interaction was only once during the actually meeting day of the patient and the physicians.

Physicians today face a number of challenges as members of given medical group practices. Top on the list is the fact that dealing with the rising cost of operation is becoming a nightmare. The rising cost can be attributed to the stiff competition that is witnesses in the healthcare sector. Every institution is striving to offer its consumers better and quality services so that they can satisfy their needs and interests. Managing finance in some of the medical groups is also hard and in some case impossibility. Consider the solo practice whereby everything is upon the individuals. Despite managing, having the funds to mange is also a nightmare.

In employed physician practices, there might be less clinical flexibility. This can be for reasons of less referrals and facilities that are based on the employing organization. This is a scenario that no medic would want to experience in the line of duty. This is because it can lead to dire situations such as patients succumbing to conditions that could have been treated easily. Referrals are specifically important in situations where you have patients with conditions you cannot treat. Physicians might also be required to be a part of other organization activities which are not related to the kind of work that one is employed to do.

Successful practice management is dependent of many issues. One of these issues is the ability of the physician to understand and appreciate the culture. The world today has diversified in the sense that you would find people of different cultures co-existing together in some foreign country. It is up to the physicians to understand how best they would attend to these patients with the right kind of service. Patients should not feel left out when they go seeking medical services in a given healthcare institution regardless of his or her culture.

The other competences that a manager can demonstrate include medical knowledge. Physicians should be able to demonstrate that he or she has the medical knowledge that is required in treating a given disease. This can go a long way in even convincing and giving hope to the patient that he or she is in safe hands. Interpersonal and communication skills are also one of the competences that a physician should have. This will enable efficient communication between entities that make up a healthcare institution. Without effective and well integrated communication a lot is bound to go wrong in these facilities.

Leaders of a group practice might be faced with a number of hurdles which range from administrative burdens. They might also be faced with issues of trying to convince the physicians from wanting to become independent. Healthcare is also a sector that is characterized payers who are dictating. This affects the functionality of these organizations. Human resource initiatives are very important in healthcare institutions in attempt to increase efficiency. The initiatives brought about by the human resource department have also been put in place to increase equity and fairness in healthcare institutions.

There are various aspects of consumer behavior that are very important for the marketing strategies. For instance, when patients act as a source of information for the new products of the healthcare institution, they become a good platform for the marketing of the product and service being offered by the organizations.

Work Cited

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