The questionHow can physicians get useful performance feedback without a report card?
Short answerPhysician feedback tends to work best when it combines several points of view with real data and ends in a short list of changes the physician chooses. The Physician Barometer pairs ratings from practice leaders, staff and the physician's own self-assessment with productivity data, compared with what works best in the same practice. Each physician picks three changes, with check-ins monthly for six months, then quarterly.
Start with one question:
Ask yourselfHow much of your week goes to reports instead of patients?
Most physicians can't answer that precisely. Few have ever seen clear, fair data on their own work, let alone a short list of what would actually help.
The gaps are real, though. In one specialty practice, physicians doing the same work read anywhere from two to four ultrasounds an hour. That's double the output at the top of the range, with the same training and the same kind of day on paper.
Range reported by the practice. Figures are approximate.
Illustrative data, not actual figures.
What this isn't
It isn't a grade or a physician scorecard. It isn't a ranking posted on the break room wall. And it isn't a list of twenty things to fix by Friday. A list that long never gets done.
It's three changes. Picked with you, not handed to you.
How it works
We call it the Physician Barometer. Like a barometer reads pressure before the weather turns, it shows where your next gain is, and where the strain is building, before either one shows up in the numbers.
- A fuller picture. We look at how you work with patients, with staff and with your practice's protocols, and where your time actually goes. Practice leaders, your office manager, your lead medical assistant and a physician leader all weigh in, and so do you.
- Real data, not just opinions. Those ratings are combined with hard numbers like daily volume, report turnaround and time with patients.
- Measured against what's already working. Not a national average. What works best in your own practice, so every change is realistic.
- You pick three. Together with your practice manager and leaders, you choose the three changes with the biggest payoff for you.
- We check in. Monthly for the first six months, then quarterly, so you can see the progress.
What's in it for you
Based on real data, from people who see your work every day, including you.
More income for the same hours, or the same income with a lighter schedule.
A physician stretched too thin rarely does their best work, and shouldn't have to.
How Practice Now helps
We run the Barometer from start to finish, so it doesn't land on you or your office manager. We gather the input, pull the data your practice already has, and sit down with you to choose your three. Then we stay with it, so the changes stick instead of fading after the first meeting.
Running a practice? Read Physician Productivity Gaps: It's the Day, Not the Doctor for how this fits into lifting your whole team.
Ask yourselfIf you could change three things about your week, what would they be? Would they be the right three?
See your physicians' top 3.
Start with a conversation about your providers and the data you already have.
Terms used here are defined in the Practice Performance Glossary.