Here’s What Makes a High-performing Practice
May 18th, 2017
MIAMI — Most of the top physician practices in the United States — those with the best financial and operational performance over the last three years — are preparing for future challenges, including the shift to value-based care.
That’s according to the 2017 Practice Performance Index, which also notes those practices’ focus on acquiring new technology and enhancing patient experience. The PPI study was conducted by CareCloud and UBM Medica based on survey responses from more than 2,000 physicians and practice administrators.
For purposes of the study, researchers looked at increases in practice collections, number of practice locations, number of providers, total patient volume, and provider satisfaction, among other criteria over the previous three years. Based on that information, practices were designated as high-performing, managing, or falling behind.
So, how do high-performing practices differ from everyone else? The study provides the following answers:
- More than half (56%) of high-performing practices have begun planning for the changeover to value-based care, vs. 32% of falling-behind practices.
- More than half (53%) also are seeking to earn a full or partial Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) incentive this year, but only 35% of falling-behind practices are attempting to do that.
- High-performing practices are twice as likely to adopt new technology as falling-behind practices, and more than two-thirds are involved with patient portals. They also are more likely to adopt advanced population health analytics, telemedicine, iPad-based intake forms, and check-in kiosks.
- High-performing practices also are much more likely — more than 80% compared to about half of falling-behind practices — to make use of surveys and online review sites.
“With the market quickly becoming more value-based and consumer-driven, we’re seeing the emergence of new technologies that enable custom workflows and new patient offerings that didn’t exist just a few years before,” pointed out Ken Comée, CEO of CareCloud. “What this survey shows is that those medical group executives who act on these opportunities are seeing higher operational and financial performance than those who maintain the status quo.”
Despite juggling numerous initiatives now and expecting more pressure in the future, 69% of clinicians and staff in high-performing practices report high overall job satisfaction compared to just 7% of those working in falling-behind practices, according to the survey.
