The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) yesterday announced that medical practices found to be above average in its annual performance survey excelled in four distinct management categories.
The MGMA Performance and Practices of Successful Medical Groups: 2011 Report Based on 2010 Data showed the four performance categories are:
- Profitability and cost management
- Productivity, capacity and staffing
- Accounts receivable and collections
- Patient satisfaction
“Looking closely at medical practices that comprise the ‘better-performers’ group, you notice a pattern,” said Susan Turney, MD, MGMA-ACMPE president and CEO in a statement. “It is important for physicians and staff to communicate well and focus on the needs of their patients. Being a successful medical practice is a process of having the right people with the right training doing the right things at the right time.”
The MGMA noted that it identified 549 “better-performers” from its annual cost survey. While it cautioned that the data came from voluntary participation and may not capture a complete snapshot of industry trends, it nevertheless discovered common traits among the better performing practices.
Among other findings, the report noted these practices reported less bad debt due to fee-for-service activity per full-time employee, reporting bad debt ranging from $6,000 to $14,000 less than other practices. Also, while better performers reported less than 10 percent of their accounts receivables were more than 120 days past due, other groups reported rates between 19 percent and 35 percent.
The report also showed the better performers collected between 90 percent and 100 percent of patient co-payments at the time of service.
Among other productivity findings MGMA reported higher levels of support staff costs per full-time employee physicians and also found that a high number of practices in this group conducted regular surveys to gauge patient satisfaction. More than 60 percent used these surveys to evaluate and improve practice operations, and more than 55 percent educated physicians and staff about behavior based on survey results.