Anyone who works or has worked in a medical practice knows it is long days and short years; a week can seem like a decade and a decade goes by like a week. That makes it necessary to only do what is needed in the week and ensure you are not missing the really important stuff that is not immediate.
First, ensure you maintain consistent time to work on your business, not just in your business. Simply dedicating time for practice leaders to perform an annual assessment is a huge win. Why? Because it feels like less than 1 in 10 medical groups consistently perform high-level planning sessions. Ironically, probably 80% of the groups that commit the dedicated time achieve exceptional performance, while less than 20% of the groups that do not commit this time achieve the same exceptional performance. We believe this is because these moments ensure there is alignment, and ensure the practice is constantly identifying how they can do things more efficiently and effectively.
Maintaining a cadence to identify the most important problem to solve, as well as having a systematic process to analyze each part of a practice, is a significant differentiator in long-term performance. The guide below includes essential tasks to maintain a thriving and patient-centered practice.
Annual Checklist for Medical Practices
Use this checklist to help make your time working on the business as efficient as possible.
1. What Is Your “ONE THING?”
First, identifying one thing that, if accomplished would be more impactful than anything else, is the most important element of the time to work on your business. It may require having appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs), financials, feedback/input from your key players, or something else; but if you have not identified your one thing, you are missing a shorter path to exceptional performance. For example, one medical group had an unmet demand of more than 3,000 new patient/procedure referrals per year.
The group was unaware of this until they started tracking their referrals to new patient visits and reviewing the data in a planning meeting. Once identified, it enabled the group to focus on solving the problem which impacted every area of their business as they had to rethink how physicians and non-physician providers worked together. Do you know your one thing? Does your staff?
The rest of the below items need to be a part of your months and years work plan. Maybe treat them like a checklist, some you may do monthly, others quarterly and annually, and others every few years. Just do not go a decade without doing it.
2. Financial Health
Monitoring the practice’s financial health is vital to sustaining operations and achieving long-term viability. Regular financial assessments can provide insights into the practice’s revenue streams, expenses, and cash flow patterns. A financially stable medical practice may provide higher quality care, invest in staff and technology, and adapt to evolving market conditions.
Financial assessment checklist:
- Review your KPI Dashboard
- Prepare for the annual tax return and compare the last 3 years
- Analyze each team/profit center with cashflow reporting
- Patient collections compared to allowables expected to collect
- Review denied claims and outstanding insurance accounts receivable
- Review all the vendors that were paid in the prior year
3. Physician/Provider Compensation and Leadership Alignment
Ensuring that provider’s compensation is aligned with current benchmarking and fair market value (FMV) trends and that the business is viable when paying providers at FMV is vital for a group. Burnout in private practice often comes when physicians are underpaid compared to employed peers or they are not rewarded for the time and risk of being an owner. Seeing clear earnings from both being a physician in the group and being an owner in the group can go a long way to minimize burnout and give them control over the time they are spending in each role. Also, having your administrator or CEO perform at high levels and having compensation aligned with the owners of the business removes hurdles for future success.
- Review Provider Compensation Compared to FMV
- Assess if FMV provider compensation enables the group to be viable
- Ensure there are earnings for being an owner of the group
- Assess if earnings for ownership are aligned with compensation for administrative leaders
4. Regulatory Compliance
First, regulatory compliance ensures medical practices meet legal and ethical standards while maintaining patient trust. A proactive approach to compliance efforts may mitigate the risk of fines or lawsuits, preserving the practice’s reputation and financial stability.
Regulatory compliance checklist:
- Do we have the following Officer positions?
- OSHA Safety Officer
- HIPPA Provider Officer
- Designated HR Representative
- OIG Compliance Officer
- Does our staff know who the officer is? In small practices, the Office Manager or lead physician may fulfill one or all of these roles.
- Ensure each of your compliance manuals (OIG, OSHA, HIPAA, and HR) are updated with recent trainings, audits, and areas of focus.
- Verify all licenses, payor contracts and certifications for the practice and its providers.
- Analyze compliance with HIPAA and other relevant patient data privacy regulations.
- Check for NLRB and state updates for your employee handbook.
5. Payor Compliance, Insurance and Contracts
Effectively managing insurance and contracts is non-negotiable. It mitigates risk, optimizes reimbursements, and maintains financial stability. Regular assessments of insurance policies allow practices to secure adequate coverage to protect against liabilities, malpractice claims, and other unforeseen events. Practices can secure favorable terms and optimize cost-effectiveness by negotiating and renegotiating contracts with insurers.
Insurance and contracts checklist:
- Verify all licenses, payor contracts and certifications for the practice and its providers
- Analyze current insurance policies for adequate coverage
- Check and renegotiate contracts with suppliers, insurers, and service providers
6. Staffing: Census and Training
Staffing and training are foundational elements of a successful medical practice assessment checklist that impact patient care quality and practice effectiveness. Regular assessments of staffing levels help practices maintain appropriate ratios to meet patient demand while controlling labor costs.
Ongoing training and development opportunities keep staff abreast of best practices, regulations, and technologies. Enhancing their skills and job satisfaction will cultivate a culture of continuous improvement, teamwork, and excellence in patient care delivery.
Staffing and training checklist:
- Analyze staffing levels and predict hiring needs
- Conduct a compensation assessment based on market rates
- Review the staff attrition rate from recent years
- Schedule required continuing staff education and training
- Conduct performance assessments and set employee goals
7. Patient Care and Feedback
Patient care and feedback are central to medical practices’ missions. Regular assessments help practices identify areas for improvement and ensure alignment with best practices and standards of care. Soliciting and analyzing feedback provides valuable insights into patients’ experiences, preferences, and needs. Collecting input will foster trust between patients and practices.
Patient care and feedback checklist:
- Collect and analyze satisfaction surveys
- Identify areas for improvement
- Include information in the scheduled staff education and training
- Update patient care policies and procedures if needed
8. Marketing and Outreach
Marketing attracts new patients, retains existing ones, and creates a positive community reputation. Regular evaluation of marketing strategies and tactics enables practices to assess their effectiveness in reaching target audiences and achieving desired outcomes. A practice can refine its marketing strategies by analyzing patient demographics, market trends, and competition.
Marketing and outreach checklist:
- Review all referring providers or other referral sources
- Check the effectiveness of past marketing strategies
- Plan marketing initiatives for the upcoming year
- Update the practice’s website and social media profiles
9. Policies and Procedures (Workflow)
Policies and procedures provide the framework for consistent and efficient practice operations, ensuring quality standards and staying abreast of changes in laws, regulations, and best practices. Medical practices clarify expectations and promote accountability among staff by documenting workflows, roles, and responsibilities. Implementing these standardized processes enhances operational efficiency and improves patient safety and satisfaction. This is especially important if your medical group has experienced turnover.
Policies and procedures checklist:
- Review scheduling utilization
- Identify procedures/steps that are no longer necessary
- Identify new ones that need to be added
- Update all practice policies and procedures
- Inform staff of changes
10. IT Systems
Information technology systems are integral to modern medical practices. They support clinical workflows, administrative processes, and data management. Prioritizing IT system reliability and security can optimize clinical outcomes, streamline workflows, and improve patient satisfaction. Investing in IT infrastructure upgrades, cybersecurity measures, and staff training enhances data protection, operational efficiency, and patient safety.
IT systems checklist:
- Assess cybersecurity measures and backup procedures
- Consider upgrades and features of your EHR software systems
11. Supplies Inventory and equipment
Routine inspections and maintenance keep equipment functioning correctly, reducing the risk of malfunctions or breakdowns that could compromise patient safety. Also, annual supply cost checks ensure you are purchasing essential supplies at the lowest possible GPO rates while minimizing waste and preventing stockouts that could impact patient care. Practices can optimize inventory turnover and reduce carrying costs by identifying and addressing slow-moving or obsolete items.
Inventory management checklist:
- Check for medical supplies, medications, and office supplies
- Safely dispose of expired drugs
- Compare average costs with contracted GPO rates
- Inspect medical and office equipment
- Schedule maintenance or replacement as needed
12. Governing Agreements
While hopefully never needed you never know the moment you need to have up-to-date governing documents. It could be for the sudden death of a partner, a partner getting married, going from one owner to five owners without updating the governance of the practice.
Governing Agreement checklist:
- Do all providers have current employment agreements in place?
- Do the practice governing documents need any updates?
- Are there any related business entities that need governing agreements?
- Is there any conflicting language between employment agreements and governing agreements?
13. Emergency Preparedness
Of course, medical practices must respond to crises and minimize disruptions to patient care and business operations. Regular assessment and updates to emergency plans ensure practices are ready to handle various scenarios such as natural disasters, cybersecurity breaches, and public health emergencies. Preparing for emergencies can prove the practice’s commitment to patient safety, regulatory compliance, and organizational resilience.
Emergency preparedness checklist:
- Analyze and update emergency plans, including disaster recovery and business continuity plans
- Conduct drills if applicable
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