MGMA In Practice blog

With practice costs steadily increasing, financial efficiency is a priority for every practice professional. But if you're a physician, they don't teach you about the business side of running a practice in medical school.

Today, the MGMA Center for Research debuts Lessons for Financial Success, a series of free online tools to help physicians improve quality of care while becoming more financially efficient. Fully funded by the United Health Foundation, Lessons includes five, printable chapters chock full of best practices, along with success stories from medical practices across the nation to inspire you.

This tool comes on the coattails of MGMA's 2009 study "Medical Practice Today: What Members Have to Say," which reports that 33.1 percent of MGMA members have witnessed a decrease in their practice's revenue. Every process or procedure simplification, no matter how small, can lend extensive financial benefits in the long run and keep your practice from becoming part of the statistics.

Two chapters are available now, while the rest will be rolled out this summer and fall. We've omitted confusing business jargon so health care professionals new to the field, health care administration students and administrators with all levels of experience will also find the chapters helpful.

Download the first two chapters for free and share them with your colleagues:

• Chapter 1: Benchmarking Basics
  
  Outlines the importance of developing benchmarks to understand where you are, where you want to go and how to get there. Quickly and easily learn the basics of benchmarking and the central role it plays in building a successful medical practice. 
  
• Chapter 2: Patient Safety, Quality and Satisfaction
  
  What patient safety and quality mean to a medical practice, including three areas of patient safety and quality: teams, assessment and medication; ideas to measure patient satisfaction; and how patient satisfaction leads to overall practice quality.
  

The three chapters to be released later include:

• Accounts Receivable and Collections
• Profitability and Cost Management
• Productivity, Capacity and Staffing

Throughout, you'll find standalone worksheets and checklists to get your physician practice on the road to financial efficiency. Also, don't miss the free tools on each chapter's Web page. The entire document will be available for download later this year.